Suicide attack kills 13 Iraqi soldiers - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

Suicide attack kills 13 Iraqi soldiers - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com: "BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber driving a tanker truck struck an Iraqi army checkpoint outside the capital on Saturday, killing at least 13 soldiers in the deadliest of a series of attacks against Iraqi forces as they try to take over their country’s security.

In southern Iraq, an apparent rocket attack at the U.S.-run Camp Bucca detention facility killed at least six detainees and wounded 50, the military said. No American casualties were reported.

The U.S. military oversees some 21,000 inmates at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq and Camp Cropper, near the Baghdad airport. Military officials refuse to give a breakdown of how many prisoners are at each facility but say the majority are at Camp Bucca." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Jordan's refugees long to return

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Jordan's refugees long to return: "The 1967 Middle East war left the West Bank occupied by Israel, and prompted tens of thousands of Palestinians to flee the West Bank for what was left of neighbouring Jordan. Forty years on, many are still there:

There is an odd sense of exuberance at the Baqaa refugee camp. Arab pop music blares from music shops, and from the windows of peoples' homes.

The market is as bustling as any you would find in a small Middle Eastern town but then that is what this camp has become.

Forty years on, the Camp is a permanent fixture, a rather tumble-down residential area like any other on the outskirts of the Jordanian capital, Amman.

But any suggestion that Baqaa might become their permanent home is fiercely rejected by its occupants." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Six dead in attack on Iraq prison

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Six dead in attack on Iraq prison: "Six civilian prisoners have been killed and at least 50 wounded in an attack on a US-run detention camp in Iraq, the US military says.

The attack was aimed at Camp Bucca in the south of the country.

There were no Americans injured or wounded in the incident, according to a US military statement.

Meanwhile, at least 12 Iraqi soldiers were killed and 30 hurt after a suicide car bombing at their base near Hilla, 100km (60 miles) south of Baghdad.

The explosion occurred just after 5pm (1300 GMT), near the gate of the army unit's headquarters." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israel 'tests' Syria peace aims

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israel 'tests' Syria peace aims: "Israel's government has sent secret messages to Syria about the possibility of renewing peace negotiations, the deputy prime minister has confirmed.

Shaul Mofaz did not comment on the content of the messages, but said it was important that a secret channel existed for sending them.

He said Syria had yet to respond. The last attempt at a deal between the two countries broke down seven years ago.

On Wednesday, PM Ehud Olmert said his country did not want war with Syria.

He also repeated his warning that a 'miscalculation' could spark hostilities between the two.

Israel and Syria are officially at war, and Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since 1967.

Syria says that in the mid-1990s the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin agreed to a total pullback from the Golan Heights.

The Israelis say this was only a theoretical acceptance and that it depended on the full normalisation of relations, a condition that Syria, it claims, did not accept." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Gaza militants launch Israel raid

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Gaza militants launch Israel raid: "Palestinian militants have launched a raid into Israel from the Gaza Strip.

The militants used an armoured jeep to burst through the Kissufim border crossing, and attacked a nearby Israeli army post, leading to a gun battle.

One of the attackers is reported to have been killed. The Israelis said they suffered no casualties.

The cross-border attack was the first since gunmen abducted an Israeli soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit, almost a year ago.

The attack on the army post was launched by two Palestinian militant groups, Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade.

Four militants were involved, according to an Islamic Jihad spokesman.

After they broke through the border and began firing mortar rounds, heavy fighting broke out and lasted for three hours." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Sri Lanka troops 'kill 30 Tigers'

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Sri Lanka troops 'kill 30 Tigers': "Sri Lanka's military says its troops have killed at least 30 Tamil Tiger rebels in fierce fighting in the east of the country.

'We have captured and destroyed four Tamil Tiger camps during battles over the last 48 hours,' said military spokesman Brig Prasad Samarasinghe.

He said one Sri Lanka soldier had been killed and 17 wounded. There has been no confirmation from the Tamil Tigers.

Despite an official truce, Sri Lanka has been sliding back to civil war.

More than 4,000 people have been killed in violence in the past 15 months." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Russia warns US on missile plan

BBC NEWS | Europe | Russia warns US on missile plan: "The US should halt moves to deploy a missile defence shield in central Europe, pending further talks, the Russian foreign minister has said.

Sergei Lavrov was speaking after President Bush made clear Poland and the US were committed to the plan.

Russia has proposed a radar station in Azerbaijan should be used instead of Polish and also Czech locations.

Mr Lavrov said US plans could 'seriously complicate' talks on the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme.

The United Nations imposed sanctions on Iran in March after it refused to suspend its uranium enrichment programme." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Iraq condemns Turkish 'shelling'

BBC NEWS | Europe | Iraq condemns Turkish 'shelling': "Iraq has made an official protest to Turkey, accusing it of shelling Kurdish areas in northern Iraq this week.

A protest letter by the Iraqi foreign ministry said the shelling caused widespread damage in northern Iraq.

Turkey has not confirmed any such shelling but it has been building up forces along the border with Iraq.

Speculation grows that Ankara could mount a raid in Iraq on PKK rebels sheltering there who it blames for recent attacks in Turkey.

The Iraqi foreign ministry summoned Turkey's charge d'affaires to voice its protest.

The letter said that said the shelling took place over several hours on Wednesday and early Thursday, starting large fires and causing serious damage.

It said such actions 'undermine confidence between the two nations and negatively affect their friendship'." Read complete post here.

Official: Cheney Urged Wiretaps - washingtonpost.com

Official: Cheney Urged Wiretaps - washingtonpost.com: "Vice President Cheney told Justice Department officials that he disagreed with their objections to a secret surveillance program during a high-level White House meeting in March 2004, a former senior Justice official told senators yesterday.

The meeting came one day before White House officials tried to get approval for the same program from then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, who lay recovering from surgery in a hospital, according to former deputy attorney general James B. Comey." Read complete post here.

Israeli Losing Patience for Iran Talks

Israeli Losing Patience for Iran Talks: "A senior member of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government suggested Wednesday that his country is running out of patience with a U.S.-backed diplomatic overture to head off Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Top U.S. and Israeli officials also briefly discussed a possible Israeli peace initiative to adversary Syria during security talks Wednesday, a U.S. spokesman said.

The talks with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and others were focused largely on Iran. Israel accuses Iran of arming Hezbollah militants attacking Israel now, but is more concerned over the possibility that Iran might acquire nuclear weapons in the future.

'Iran continues a military nuclear program,' said Shaul Mofaz, Israel's deputy prime minister and transportation minister, following a meeting with Rice.

'I believe diplomatic efforts should bear results until the end of 2007,' Mofaz added without elaboration.

Although cryptic, his remark was apparently a sign of declining Israeli confidence that carrot-and-stick diplomacy will persuade Iran to give up parts of its nuclear program that Israel and the West fear could lead to a bomb." Read complete post here.

Marine says he erased photos of Haditha victims - Los Angeles Times

Marine says he erased photos of Haditha victims - Los Angeles Times: "CAMP PENDLETON — A staff sergeant testified Thursday that he was ordered to destroy grisly pictures of women and children killed by Marines so that the images would not be part of a statement being prepared for an investigative officer and a magazine reporter.

The testimony by Staff Sgt. Justin Laughner, taken under a grant of immunity, is the first evidence suggesting that any Marine officer may have engaged in a coverup in the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in 2005.

Other testimony has suggested that officers made only a superficial review before deciding that the deaths were combat-related and thus no war crimes investigation was required.

At the Article 32 inquiry, similar to a preliminary hearing, for a former battalion commander, Laughner testified hat he felt the order to destroy the pictures, which he said was given by Lt. Andrew Grayson, amounted to obstruction of justice but that he complied and later lied when asked whether any pictures had been taken.

'It was wrong,' Laughner said. 'Somebody was asking for them [the pictures], and we're not going to give them to them? It's not right, but I didn't say anything.'

Although Laughner deleted the pictures from his computer, the images remained on his digital camera and are now part of the criminal case against four officers and three enlisted Marines." Read complete post here.

Twist of history finds Palestinian refugees fleeing back to Shatilla | Jerusalem Post

Twist of history finds Palestinian refugees fleeing back to Shatilla | Jerusalem Post: "Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon say they fear they're the target of a Beirut government-sponsored plan to get rid of them.

Behind the bricked walls and tiny alleyways of Shatilla refugee camp in central Beirut, they whisper in hushed tones about the violence of the past fortnight. At least 114 people, including 46 Lebanese soldiers, have been killed in clashes between the army and militants of a previously little-known extremist group, Fatah al-Islam.

'The army's trying to kill as many Palestinians as possible,' says 82-year-old Wafa al-Shami, who had left Shatilla in 1982 after the massacre by Christian Phalangists that killed her brother and his family. She settled in the northern coastal camp of Nahr el-Bared, only to return now.

'We're in the way,' Shami says. 'If Lebanon wants a peace process with Israel, they need to get rid of us refugees. The government doesn't want to give us Lebanese identity, and Israel will never accept the 'right of return,' so the solution for the Lebanese is to kill as many Palestinians as possible and scatter us all over the world. They want us to forget our identity.'" Read complete post here.

Jewish worshippers desecrate Muslim cemetery in West Bank - Haaretz - Israel News

Jewish worshippers desecrate Muslim cemetery in West Bank - Haaretz - Israel News: "A Muslim graveyard in a village near the West Bank settlement of Ariel was desecrated by a group of Jewish worshippers visiting the area on Friday morning.

A group of some 1,300 Jews visited the tomb of Joshua Ben Nun on Thursday night, in full coordination with the Israel Defense Forces.

On Friday morning, after the Jewish worshippers had left, Palestinians informed leftist groups that several tombstones in the local Muslim graveyard had been vandalized. Some were smashed; others were sprayed with slogans reading 'death to Arabs.'

The Civil Administration filed a complaint with police.

IDF representatives met with the organizers of the excursion, who promised to repair the damages next week." Read complete post here.

IDF troops kill armed Palestinian, wound another in W. Bank raid - Haaretz - Israel News

IDF troops kill armed Palestinian, wound another in W. Bank raid - Haaretz - Israel News: "Israel Defense Forces troops shot dead an armed Palestinian and wounded another Friday night near the West Bank city of Hebron, the military said, adding that the wounded man escaped.

Residents of the village of Tufah, west of Hebron, said the men were local hunters out looking for game in the dark. They were not known to be
connected to any militant groups.

Medics said the dead youth was aged 17, while the other man, who was in moderate condition, was 25." Read complete post here.

Why Israel does not engage with the Saudi initiative - Haaretz - Israel News

Why Israel does not engage with the Saudi initiative - Haaretz - Israel News: "One of the most puzzling aspects of Israeli policy over the last five years is that neither the Sharon nor the Olmert governments have given the Saudi peace initiative any serious consideration. For most of its existence, Israel could only dream of an offer that explicitly includes peace, recognition of Israel's right to exist and normalization of its relationship with the Arab world. Why, then, has Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered nothing but lip service to the Saudi initiative, and why did former prime minister Ariel Sharon never even indicate that he took it seriously at all?" Read complete post here.

US to Press Ahead With Anti-Missile Plan | World Latest | Guardian Unlimited

US to Press Ahead With Anti-Missile Plan | World Latest | Guardian Unlimited: "ROME (AP) - President Bush signaled Friday the United States will press ahead with a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe despite Russia's heated objections. Poland's president expressed support for installing interceptor rockets in his country.

An upset stomach crimped Bush's schedule on a busy day that took him from Germany to Poland and finally to Italy. The president stayed in bed and skipped morning sessions at the summit of world leaders in Heiligendamm, Germany, and he appeared subdued later after talks in Poland with President Lech Kaczynski.

``Still not 100 percent but better all the time,'' White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said of her boss." Read complete post here.

30 die as police hunt gang in Nairobi slum | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited

30 die as police hunt gang in Nairobi slum | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited: "Hundreds of people carrying mattresses, cooking pots and furniture fled yesterday from a Nairobi shantytown, where more than 30 people have been killed in a police crackdown on a gang accused of a wave of beheadings.

While many in Mathare acknowledge that the shadowy Mungiki sect does operate from the slum, they also accuse police of indiscriminate violence as they round up residents and demolish homes in search of weapons.

'I have never witnessed in my life anything like what is happening,' Jane Wachira, 37, who has three children, said as she packed her bags. 'My children and I are traumatised.'" Read complete post here.

General 'sacrificed' to clear decks on Iraq | Iraq | Guardian Unlimited

General 'sacrificed' to clear decks on Iraq | Iraq | Guardian Unlimited: "

· Chairman of joint chiefs of staff to stand down
· Senate hearings would have been controversial


The Bush administration yesterday attempted to wipe the slate clean on the Iraq war and chart a new way forward with the surprise announcement that it was replacing General Peter Pace as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.

The defence chief, Robert Gates, said he had reluctantly decided on the reshuffle - despite his initial support for Gen Pace - to avoid a 'divisive ordeal' at the Senate which would have had to approve an extension of the general's term.

'The focus of this confirmation process would have been on the past rather than on the future,' Mr Gates told the press conference. 'There was a very real prospect that the process would be quite contentious.'" Read complete post here.

Palestinians face more restrictions than ever - Independent Online Edition > Middle East

Palestinians face more restrictions than ever - Independent Online Edition > Middle East: "The Israeli authorities have been ordered by the High Court to give a formal explanation of why an important highway running from Jerusalem through the occupied West Bank has been barred to Palestinians living in the area.

The Israeli High Court ruled yesterday that the state - in this instance the Israeli military - has to explain why Route 443 is in practice barred to Palestinians and why roadblocks preventing access to the road from Palestinian villages along the route have not been dismantled.

While it only concerns a single stretch of road, the petition from the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (Acri) in several respects goes to the heart of the heavy restrictions on Palestinian movement and access in much of the West Bank. This is graphically illustrated in a UN map showing road closures and territory - about 40 per cent of the West Bank- which are either barred or heavily restricted for Palestinians, severing the sectors of the West Bank from each other, and from Jerusalem.

The map highlights restrictions imposed by the barrier and road closures largely to protect Jewish settlements, and the unimpeded travel of settlers in the West Bank, resulting in what critics call the "cantonisation" of the territory into enclaves separated from each other and Jerusalem. Closures imposed since the intifada began in 2000 mean that Palestinians are probably more restricted now than at any time during the past 40 years.

The ruling follows a petition by Acri against the almost seven-year de facto ban on behalf of the 25,000 residents of six Palestinian villages near the road who are forced on to poor backways rather than the highway through the West Bank towards Ramallah, which had served them since the British mandate." Read complete post here.

Fresh assault on militants' camp in north Lebanon - Independent Online Edition > Middle East

Fresh assault on militants' camp in north Lebanon - Independent Online Edition > Middle East: "Sporadic fighting between Lebanese troops and al-Qaida-inspired Islamic militants continued yesterday in a northern Palestinian refugee camp as police, stepping up raids nationwide on suspected militant hideouts, made 13 more arrests.

In eastern Lebanon, police arrested a Syrian man with Lebanese citizenship after raiding his apartment in the village of Ghazzeh.

Security officials said troops confiscated detonators and timers from the apartment. An army raid on a suspected militant hideout Thursday, also in eastern Lebanon, uncovered vehicles rigged with explosives that were hidden in a garage with several rockets.

Authorities arrested separately 12 Iraqi nationals at the Masnaa Lebanon-Syria border crossing in the eastern Bekaa Valley after they crossed in from Syria. They said the men carried forged foreign passports, but it was not immediately clear whether they were related to Fatah Islam militants." Read complete post here.

Latest round of sectarian violence in Iraq leaves more than 30 dead - Independent Online Edition > Middle East

Latest round of sectarian violence in Iraq leaves more than 30 dead - Independent Online Edition > Middle East: "Carloads of attackers descended on a police chief's house northeast of Baghdad at dawn yesterday, killing the official's wife, two brothers and 11 guards, and kidnapping three of his grown children, Diyala provincial police reported.

The attack outside Baqouba, which came when the police chief was not at home, was one of the boldest and bloodiest in months of stepped-up violence around the city, where al-Qaida in Iraq and affiliated groups have been fighting US and Iraqi forces and local insurgents who have turned against al-Qaida.

Elsewhere in northern Iraq, bombings struck a Shiite mosque in a town near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, killing at least 19 people and wounding 25, police said.

The attack started at 1:45 p.m. when a parked car exploded near worshippers leaving the Thaqalain mosque after Friday prayers in the predominantly Shiite town of Dakok, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Kirkuk, police chief Maj. Gen. Farhan Abdul-Rahman Youssef said.

About five minutes later, a suicide bomber was spotted driving toward the mosque but policemen in a nearby station opened fire on him and he exploded, Youssef said." Read complete post here.

Bush U-turn as 'surge' sceptic to oversee war - Independent Online Edition > Americas

Bush U-turn as 'surge' sceptic to oversee war - Independent Online Edition > Americas: "The White House has sidelined the main proponent of 'troop surge' in Iraq in what looks a tacit acceptance that, after several months, the much-vaunted strategy is not working.

Final responsibility for guiding President George Bush on conduct of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has been shifted from his National Security adviser, Stephen Hadley, and handed instead to his new war tsar, Lt-Gen Douglas Lute, who has long voiced doubts about the surge.

In a Senate confirmation hearing into his appointment, General Lute revealed that from now on, Mr Hadley would guide the President on 'matters outside Iraq and Afghanistan'. But he added that Mr Hadley would be his 'teammate' on Iraq.

Even so, the news that Mr Hadley has surrendered primacy on Iraq looked like a palace coup coming to light as President Bush was abroad at the G8 meeting, with Mr Hadley. More important are the implications for a possible change of tack on Iraq at the White House." Read complete post here.

Wife and Son of Police Chief Are Among 50 Killed in Iraq - New York Times

Wife and Son of Police Chief Are Among 50 Killed in Iraq - New York Times: "BAGHDAD, June 8 — More than 50 people were killed in attacks across Iraq on Friday, including 14 who died when gunmen stormed a police chief’s home northeast of Baghdad and raked the occupants with automatic fire.

The police chief, staying elsewhere for the night, survived. His wife and son were among the dead.

At least 34 others were killed in two bombing attacks, one in the northern city of Daquq, about 30 miles south of Kirkuk, and the other in the southern city of Qurna, 60 miles north of Basra. In a familiar pattern, both bombings involved successive explosions set at close quarters in crowded areas, a technique often used to maximize casualties.

The Daquq bombings struck a Shiite mosque and a nearby police station. The attack began when two suicide bombers detonated explosive vests in the forecourt of a mosque frequented by supporters of the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, followed by a car bomb close by, according to the local police. They said at least 19 people died, and more than 20 were wounded." Read complete post here.

Besieged by Protests, Pakistan Suspends Curbs on TV - New York Times

Besieged by Protests, Pakistan Suspends Curbs on TV - New York Times: "ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 8 — After a barrage of criticism and nationwide protests by journalists and rights groups, the Pakistani government has suspended its restrictions on independent television stations.

The restrictions, which had been approved by the president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, on Monday, gave the government sweeping powers to cancel licenses of independent television channels, seal buildings where it believed that illegal broadcasts were being shown and increased the fines for many violations. The move touched off angry but peaceful protests by thousands of lawyers, opposition activists and journalists across the country.

Critical media coverage of the legal and political crisis that has erupted in the country since General Musharraf suspended the nation’s chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, on March 9 appeared to have led to the media curbs.

On Wednesday, the prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, met with news media representatives and announced the formation of a six-member committee to review the amendments. It is composed of media representatives and government officials." Read complete post here.

Israelis Ask, What Have We Gained Since the ’67 War? - New York Times

Israelis Ask, What Have We Gained Since the ’67 War? - New York Times: "JERUSALEM, June 8 — In the months before the 1967 Middle East war, Israel was in a spiral of self-doubt, the 19-year experiment of an independent Jewish state looking shaky.

There were existential worries about destruction by Arab armies, fierce denunciations of the political leadership and deep anxiety about a sinking economy.

Forty years later, Israel is rich and its army one of the best in the world, yet the public mood is oddly similar. There is a quiet panic about a potentially nuclear Iran, condemnations of the leadership as weak, indecisive and corrupt, and deep concerns about “two Israels” — religious versus secular, settler versus beachgoer, Jerusalem versus Tel Aviv, Jew versus Arab.

Of course, Israel is no stranger to anxiety or complaint. A small nation built on the ashes of the Holocaust, many of its citizens are ready to fear the worst.

But as Israel marks 40 years after an extraordinary victory, there is far less exultation than questioning about the war’s impact on the country, and grave doubts about the future. There is a debate about what kind of country Israel is, about the impact those 40 years of development, immigration, war, settlement and occupation have had on the dreams of those who chose to make their lives here. And there is a widespread feeling that both left and right are out of answers." Read complete post here.

Suicide Attacks, Bombings Kill Dozens in Iraq - washingtonpost.com

Suicide Attacks, Bombings Kill Dozens in Iraq - washingtonpost.com: "BAGHDAD, June 7 -- Suicide attackers and car bombs struck targets in central, western and northern Iraq on Thursday, leaving at least 24 people dead and 42 wounded, Iraqi security officials said.

Gunmen also shot three professors from Islamic University in Baghdad, killing two and wounding one, and killed the head of the Education Ministry's department of research and development as he drove to work, police said." Read complete post here.

TIMELINE: CIA renditions and secret prisons | International | Reuters

TIMELINE: CIA renditions and secret prisons | International | Reuters: "(Reuters) - A European investigator said on Friday he had proof the CIA ran secret prisons in Poland and Romania to interrogate suspects in its war on terrorism.

At the same time, an Italian court began trying 26 Americans in absentia over the alleged kidnapping and secret transfer of a terrorist suspect in 2003.

Here is chronology of events in the international controversy over CIA secret prisons for terrorist suspects and the use of U.S. 'extraordinary renditions' to move detainees covertly around the world.

Nov 2005 - Washington Post reports CIA has been hiding and interrogating al Qaeda captives at secret facilities in Eastern Europe. Other media reports name Poland and Romania, which both deny hosting such centers." Read complete post here.

Doctors warn of deepening crisis in Chad | Reuters

Doctors warn of deepening crisis in Chad | Reuters: "NEW YORK, June 8 (Reuters) - A leading medical charity warned on Friday that 150,000 Chadian civilians forced from their homes by violence spilling over from neighboring Darfur face a deepening humanitarian crisis.

While world attention is focused on Darfur in Sudan, where international experts estimate 200,000 people have been killed and 2 million made homeless since 2003, Medicins Sans Frontieres warned of looming problems in Chad.

It said malaria and diarrheal diseases were on the rise and malnutrition could increase significantly as the rainy season starts at the end of this month. The group said 150,000 people were now internally displaced within Chad.

'Given the anticipated deterioration of the situation, it is urgent, in order to avoid a catastrophe, to increase hospitalization capacity, improve the water supply, and respond to the nutritional problems,' MSF said in a statement." Read complete post here.

Sudanese children abducted for fighting and sex: U.N. | International | Reuters

Sudanese children abducted for fighting and sex: U.N. | International | Reuters: "GENEVA (Reuters) - Children in Sudan, especially in the Darfur region, continue to be abducted for use in battle, forced labor or sexual exploitation, a U.N. human rights body said on Friday.

The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child called on the Khartoum government to intensify its efforts to prevent children being abducted and to help reunify victims with their families.

The body, composed of 18 independent experts, issued its conclusions after holding a three-week session at which it examined the records of 11 countries, including Sudan.

It voiced concern that 'abductions of children continue to occur for forced recruitment, forced labor, and in some instances, sexual exploitation, especially in Darfur and South Sudan'." Read complete post here.

U.N. says immune from legal action over Srebrenica | International | Reuters

U.N. says immune from legal action over Srebrenica | International | Reuters: "UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations has received documents in a suit families of a 1995 massacre in Bosnia want to bring against it over its failure to prevent the bloodshed, but is immune from legal action, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Friday.

The world body has drawn lessons from the Srebrenica massacre, in which Bosnian Serb forces killed at least 8,000 Muslim men and boys that Dutch U.N. peacekeeping troops had been charged with protecting, said spokeswoman Marie Okabe.

Relatives of the victims sued the Dutch state and the United Nations in the Netherlands on Monday. Lawyers said the Dutch had refused crucial air support to their troops defending the town, and the U.N. had not tried to make them provide it.

Survivors of the massacre during Bosnia's 1992-95 war were 'absolutely right' to demand justice for what has been called Europe's worst atrocity since World War II, Okabe said." Read complete post here.

Secret CIA jails hosted by Poland, Romania: watchdog | International | Reuters

Secret CIA jails hosted by Poland, Romania: watchdog | International | Reuters: "PARIS (Reuters) - A European investigator said on Friday he had proof Poland and Romania hosted secret prisons for the Central Intelligence Agency in which it interrogated top al Qaeda suspects using methods akin to torture.

Swiss senator Dick Marty said Poland housed some of the CIA's most sensitive prisoners, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who says he masterminded the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States that killed almost 3,000 people.

'There is now enough evidence to state that secret detention facilities run by the CIA did exist in Europe from 2003-2005, in particular in Poland and Romania,' Marty said in a report for the Council of Europe human rights watchdog." Read complete post here.

Fierce fighting rocks Palestinian camp in Lebanon | International | Reuters

Fierce fighting rocks Palestinian camp in Lebanon | International | Reuters: "NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (Reuters) - Lebanese troops pounded al Qaeda-inspired militants dug in at a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon on Friday after the group rejected demands to surrender.

Artillery and tanks blasted several areas of the squalid Nahr al-Bared camp, where Fatah al-Islam fighters have shown stiff resistance in three weeks of often ferocious battles.

Camp resident Wissam Badran told Reuters he had helped pull a man, woman and two children from under the rubble after a shell hit a house sheltering 10 civilians. He initially thought they were dead.

'They lost consciousness. We thought they were dead, but thank God, they are alive,' Badran said by telephone from inside Nahr al-Bared. Six others were lightly wounded, he said.

The heavy thud of machinegun fire echoed across the area as fires raged inside and clouds of smoke billowed over the camp, abandoned by most of its 40,000 residents. Witnesses said at least 30 civilians were evacuated by relief workers." Read complete post here.

Israel, offering Golan, awaits Syria proposals | International | Reuters

Israel, offering Golan, awaits Syria proposals | International | Reuters: "JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has told Syria it is willing to trade land for peace and is waiting to hear whether President Bashar al-Assad would cut ties with Iran and hostile guerrilla groups in return, Israeli officials said on Friday.

One said Syrian officials had so far indicated a willingness to conduct discreet contacts that might lead to a resumption of formal peace talks after a seven-year hiatus. In two weeks, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is due to meet President George W. Bush, who would play a crucial role in any such process.

Two days after Olmert confirmed Israel had sent conciliatory messages to Damascus, Israeli media widely reported a leak to a newspaper that quoted a senior diplomat saying Syria had been reminded that Israel was ready to discuss returning the Golan Heights, captured 40 years ago this week, if peace talks resume." Read complete post here.

U.S.-Libya chemical arms-related deal in doubt | U.S. | Reuters

U.S.-Libya chemical arms-related deal in doubt | U.S. | Reuters: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Libya, citing cost and liability concerns, has informed the United States of plans to back out of a contract to destroy its mustard gas stocks as promised under a landmark 2003 agreement, U.S. officials said.

The State Department played down the development and insisted Tripoli remains committed to getting rid of its chemical weapons agents.

But some officials and experts worry that a critical opportunity to destroy Libya's remaining stocks -- believed to include 23 metric tons of old mustard gas and 1,300 metric tons of precursor chemicals -- could be lost.

'We can't let this opportunity slip by,' said a U.S. official, who like several others interviewed this week spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak for the record.

Under the 2003 agreement -- hailed by the Bush administration as a major foreign policy success and a model for other countries -- Libya promised to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction and long-range missile programs." Read complete post here.

4th American-Iranian probed - Focus on Iran - MSNBC.com

4th American-Iranian probed - Focus on Iran - MSNBC.com: "TEHRAN, Iran - Iran confirmed Friday for the first time that it is holding an Iranian-American peace activist, the fourth dual citizen it has detained in recent months, according to a semiofficial news agency.

Ali Shakeri of Lake Forest, Calif., was being held on security-related charges and investigated by the security department of the Tehran prosecutor’s office, the Iranian Student News Agency reported. It provided no source for the information and calls to Iranian judicial officials were not immediately returned Friday, a weekend day in the Islamic country.

ISNA said in a four-sentence report on its Web site that Shakeri had been detained “some time ago.”

It was not immediately clear if he was being represented by a lawyer." Read complete post here.

Putin offers alternative to missile plan - G-8 summit - MSNBC.com

Putin offers alternative to missile plan - G-8 summit - MSNBC.com: "HEILIGENDAMM, Germany - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that U.S. missile defense interceptors could be located in Turkey, or even Iraq or on sea platforms, offering yet another alternative to an American plan for a missile shield in eastern Europe.

“They could be placed in the south, in U.S. NATO allies such as Turkey, or even Iraq,” Putin said at a news conference after the close of the Group of Eight summit. “They could also be placed on sea platforms.”

Putin’s proposal on missile defense interceptors followed his surprise suggestion Thursday to President Bush to share use of the huge Soviet-era radar at Gabala in northeast Azerbaijan, now leased by Russia.

The proposal came after Putin spent weeks bitterly denouncing a U.S. proposal to build the missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, to defend against a future missile threat from Iran." Read complete post here.

G-8 wraps up with Africa, Iran actions - G-8 summit - MSNBC.com

G-8 wraps up with Africa, Iran actions - G-8 summit - MSNBC.com: "HEILIGENDAMM, Germany - Leaders of the Group of Eight agreed Friday on a $60 billion package to fight AIDS, TB and malaria in Africa and warned Iran over its nuclear program, on the final day of the summit of the world’s richer nations.

The G-8 pledged to “adopt further measures” if Iran refuses to halt its uranium enrichment program — a sign of support for U.N. Security Council moves to discuss a third set of sanctions. Uranium enrichment is a process that can produce fuel for civilian energy — or fissile material for a bomb.

Meanwhile, G-8 diplomats ran in to obstacles in discussions on the future of the Serbian province of Kosovo." Read complete post here.

WP: U.S. unit allies with ex-insurgents - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

WP: U.S. unit allies with ex-insurgents - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com: "BAGHDAD, June 8 - The worst month of Lt. Col. Dale Kuehl's deployment in western Baghdad was finally drawing to a close. The insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq had unleashed bombings that killed 14 of his soldiers in May, a shocking escalation of violence for a battalion that had lost three soldiers in the previous six months while patrolling the Sunni enclave of Amiriyah. On top of that, the 41-year-old battalion commander was doubled up with a stomach flu when, late on May 29, he received a cellphone call that would change everything.

'We're going after al-Qaeda,' a leading local imam said, Kuehl recalled. 'What we want you to do is stay out of the way.'

'Sheik, I can't do that. I can't just leave Amiriyah and let you go at it.'

'Well, we're going to go.'" Read complete post here.

Police chief’s house ambushed in Iraq - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

Police chief’s house ambushed in Iraq - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com: "BAGHDAD - Carloads of attackers descended on a police chief’s house northeast of Baghdad at dawn Friday, killing the official’s wife, two brothers and 11 guards, and kidnapping three of his grown children, Diyala provincial police reported.

The attack outside Baqouba, which came when the police chief was not at home, was one of the boldest and bloodiest in months of stepped-up violence around the city, where al-Qaida in Iraq and affiliated groups have been fighting U.S. and Iraqi forces and local insurgents who have turned against al-Qaida.

Elsewhere in northern Iraq, bombings struck a Shiite mosque in a town near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, killing at least 13 people and wounding 14, police said." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Why did Israel attack USS Liberty?

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Why did Israel attack USS Liberty?: "For former US seaman Gary Brummett, the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Middle East war has stirred painful memories.

As a 21-year-old third class petty officer, Mr Brummett was serving on board the USS Liberty off the coast of Egypt on 8 June, when, without warning, the vessel came under fire, first from fighter planes, then torpedo boats.

The attack, which lasted at least 40 minutes, resulted in the deaths of 34 of Mr Brummett's fellow crewmen, at least 170 injured and catastrophic damage to the ship.

Alarmingly, the assault had been carried out not by enemy forces, but by the US' closest regional ally, Israel.

Israel insists it mistook the Liberty for a hostile Egyptian ship, the El Quseir, and numerous US and Israeli inquiries have concluded the attack was accidental.

But for Mr Brummett and a growing body of conspiracy theorists, the authorities are guilty of a cover-up.

'I have more trouble with it today than when it happened because I know more of the facts about what was going on,' said Mr Brummett.

'There's been an egregious wrong done here, there's been an extreme number of lies told to the American people and the American people do not know the truth about what happened." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Europe | First CIA rendition trial opens

BBC NEWS | Europe | First CIA rendition trial opens: "The first criminal trial over the CIA's 'extraordinary rendition' of terror suspects has opened in Italy.

Twenty-six Americans and six Italians are accused of kidnapping a Muslim cleric from Italy and sending him to Egypt, where he was allegedly tortured.

The American CIA agents and military personnel will be tried in absentia. Italy has not announced if it will seek their extradition to the Milan trial.

US President George W Bush arrived in Italy hours after the trial began.

Mr Bush will have his first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Saturday and will later hold talks with Italy's prime minister, Romano Prodi.

Mr Prodi has already said that the extraordinary rendition case will not be on the agenda." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | UN condemns Ahmadinejad comments

BBC NEWS | Middle East | UN condemns Ahmadinejad comments: "UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said he was 'shocked and dismayed' at recent comments by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about Israel.

Iran's official news agency reported Mr Ahmadinejad saying that the world would soon see Israel's destruction.

He said the war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 showed for the first time Israel's weakness.

The Iranian leader is a trenchant critic of Israel and has said the Holocaust of European Jewry is a myth." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iraq police chief's children held

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iraq police chief's children held: "Gunmen in Iraq have attacked the house of a senior police officer, killing his wife and 13 other people and taking away three of his children.

The attack took place late on Thursday on the house of Col Ali al-Jurani, the head of emergency police in the town of Kanaan, in Diyala province.

Diyala has been the scene of some of the worst violence in Iraq.

Meanwhile two double bombings - one in the south of Iraq and one in the north - killed at least 34 people in total.

Hundreds of people die every month in attacks which have brought Iraq to the brink of civil war.

Millions of people have also been displaced by the spiralling sectarian strife." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Police die in Afghanistan blasts

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Police die in Afghanistan blasts: "At least two policemen have been killed in Afghanistan by a bomb which blew up their patrol vehicle in the province of Kandahar, police say.

They say that two others were injured in the roadside blast near the Pakistani border.

Another policeman was killed on Thursday in neighbouring Zabul province, police say.

Kandahar has seen an increasing number of attacks by the Taleban. No group has so far said it carried out the blasts." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Hindu sites 'only for Hinduism'

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Hindu sites 'only for Hinduism': "The government of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has banned the propagation of other religions in the holy places of Hindus across the state.

The authorities say the move is to ensure that Hindu sentiments in holy places are not offended.

It follows a row over alleged Christian missionary activity around a shrine in the town of Tirumala.

Christian organisations have not reacted, but a Muslim legal expert denounced it as unconstitutional.

The ordinance promulgated by the state Governor, Rameshwar Thakuar, came into effect immediately in Tirumala." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Top Afghan law officer assaulted

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Top Afghan law officer assaulted: "Afghanistan's most senior law officer says bodyguards of a top army general physically attacked him while travelling north of the capital, Kabul.

Attorney-General Abdul Jabar Sabet - one of President Hamid Karzai's closest aides - told the BBC that he needed hospital treatment after the attack.

The general, Deen Mohammad Jurat, says he and his men were only acting in self-defence.

Mr Sabet has a reputation for sacking officials suspected of corruption.

The BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul says that the attorney-general's campaign against corruption has earned him many enemies." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Court halts expulsion of Tamils

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Court halts expulsion of Tamils: "Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has ordered the authorities to immediately halt any further evictions of minority Tamils from the capital, Colombo.

Hundreds of Tamils were expelled from the city on Thursday by the government.

They have arrived in a town close to the front line that divides government and Tamil Tiger rebel-held territory.

A defence ministry spokesman said nearly 400 Tamils were expelled because they were part of a plot by rebels to set off bombs in Colombo.

The police have offered no evidence against any of the evicted Tamils.

Later on Friday, President Mahinda Rajapakse ordered the country's top police officer to explain why the Tamils had been forced out of the capital.

Mr Rajapakse's office said he was prepared to take disciplinary action against any government official found to have exceeded their authority." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Expelled from Iran - refugee misery

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Expelled from Iran - refugee misery: "The queues of refugees start to pour over the border shortly from first thing in the morning - as they have been doing for the last month.

Ninety thousand people have so far been forcibly returned to Afghanistan from Iran since 21 April, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Every hour or so another bus arrives on the Iranian side, the people are unloaded, carrying the few possessions they had when they were arrested.

A policeman meets them on the Afghanistan side, and they join a long line of people waiting to pick up the few pieces of charity an aid agency has gathered for them.

They get water, biscuits and a bundle of clothes. They can also make a free phone call to relatives to let them know where they are.

Then they get a free 120 km bus trip from the border post to the city of Herat where they are left to start all over again in a country where they used to live." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Europe | CIA rejects secret jails report

BBC NEWS | Europe | CIA rejects secret jails report: "The CIA has dismissed a Council of Europe report alleging that it ran secret jails for terror suspects in Europe after the 11 September attacks.

A CIA spokesman said the report was biased and distorted, and that the agency had operated lawfully.

Swiss Senator Dick Marty, who wrote the report, said secret CIA prisons 'did exist in Europe from 2003 to 2005, in particular in Poland and Romania'.

The charge was denied by both Polish and Romanian officials.

Former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who served from 1995 to 2005, said on Friday: 'There were no secret prisons in Poland.'

Romanian senator Norica Nicolai, who headed an investigation into the allegations, also denied his country's involvement." Read complete post here.

Israeli soldiers kill 2 Palestinians | International | Reuters

Israeli soldiers kill 2 Palestinians | International | Reuters: "HEBRON, West Bank (Reuters) - Israel killed two Palestinian men on Wednesday, one during a raid in the occupied West Bank, and another in an air strike in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics and security sources said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed both incidents.

In the latest attack, Israel fired at two armed Palestinians in Gaza 'who were spotted planting explosives,' the spokeswoman said.

Hamas said that one of its militants was killed in the attack." Read complete post here.

Factional battles kill 616 Palestinians since 2006 | International | Reuters

Factional battles kill 616 Palestinians since 2006 | International | Reuters: "RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - An estimated 616 Palestinians have been killed in factional fighting since Hamas defeated Fatah in elections in January 2006, a leading Palestinian rights group said on Wednesday.

President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah said earlier this week that Palestinians were at the brink of civil war and the danger posed by factional fighting was equal to and sometimes exceeded the 'danger of occupation' by Israel.

In its annual report, the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights said 345 Palestinians were killed in factional fighting in 2006.

In the first five months of 2007, another 271 Palestinians were killed in factional fighting, the commission said.

A Reuters count puts the number of Palestinians killed by Israelis since January 2006 at 659.

Fighting between Fatah and ruling Hamas Islamists surged late last year and continued into 2007, despite the formation of a Palestinian unity government in March.

The bulk of fighting was in Gaza, the power base of Hamas. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005." Read complete post here.

Weeks before last Baghdad brigade ready: U.S. general | International | Reuters

Weeks before last Baghdad brigade ready: U.S. general | International | Reuters: "BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The final extra U.S. brigade in a security crackdown to prevent all-out civil war in Iraq is unlikely to be fully operational for up to two months, the U.S. military's top spokesman in Iraq said on Wednesday.

Military and civilian deaths have spiked in the past month as thousands more U.S. and Iraqi troops are deployed in Baghdad but U.S. commanders say success cannot be judged until all five brigades are in place.

Car and suicide bombings remain an almost daily occurrence. In Baghdad, two car bombs exploded about two minutes apart in a busy Shi'ite district, killing at least seven people and wounding 25 others, police said." Read complete post here.

Twin car bombs kill seven in Baghdad: police | International | Reuters

Twin car bombs kill seven in Baghdad: police | International | Reuters: "BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least seven people were killed and 25 wounded when bombs in two parked cars exploded in quick succession in a Shi'ite district in northeastern Baghdad on Wednesday, police said.

The cars were parked by the roadside near a central square in Kadhimiya. The bombs went off about two minutes apart, police said.

The first exploded close to al-Zahra square, a commercial area in central Kadhimiya. The second bomb exploded near a parking lot, commonly used by shoppers, close to a women's jail.

Thousands of extra U.S. and Iraqi troops have been deployed in Baghdad and other areas as part of a security crackdown aimed at averting all-out sectarian civil war between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs dominant under Saddam Hussein." Read complete post here.

U.S., Iraqi troops control a third of Baghdad | International | Reuters

U.S., Iraqi troops control a third of Baghdad | International | Reuters: "BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S.-led soldiers control only about a third of Baghdad, the military said on Monday, almost four months into a security crackdown during which troops are dying at rates not seen for more than two years.

More than 18,000 extra U.S. troops have been deployed around Baghdad as part of the campaign, which began in mid-February and is seen as a last-ditch attempt to drag Iraq back from the brink of all-out sectarian civil war.

The last of five brigades to be deployed in the crackdown will be in place soon, military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver said, adding that it would not be possible to judge the crackdown's success until all units were in place.

'Obviously we're constantly doing an assessment of the plan, but that plan doesn't kick in until everyone's here. We control about a third of the neighborhoods,' he said." Read complete post here.

U.S. hands over $10 mln bounty to Philippine Muslims | International | Reuters

U.S. hands over $10 mln bounty to Philippine Muslims | International | Reuters: "JOLO, Philippines (Reuters) - The United States handed over $10 million in bounties to four Muslim men in the southern Philippines on Thursday for their role in the killing of two leaders of the country's deadliest Islamic militant group.

U.S. ambassador Kristie Kenney handed over briefcases containing crisp 1,000-peso bills to the men on the southern island of Jolo, the bastion of the Abu Sayyaf militants. They wore black hoods during the ceremony to conceal their identities.

Two of the men were former Abu Sayyaf rebels who turned themselves in and led Philippine soldiers to the grave of their leader. They shared $5 million.

Two Muslim farmers who tipped off army commandos about another militant leader who was then killed in a gunbattle in January shared another $5 million bounty.

'I will be proud to give another $10 million to any citizen who will step forward to keep the rest of us safe,' Kenney said. The briefcases contained only a symbolic amount of money, and each man would receive $2.5 million, officials said." Read complete post here.

Saudi Arabia says detains 11 suspected militants | International | Reuters

Saudi Arabia says detains 11 suspected militants | International | Reuters: "RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has detained 11 suspected Islamist militants over the past 48 hours including one involved in an attack on a major Saudi oil installation, the state news agency said on Thursday.

SPA quoted an interior ministry official as saying that all 11 detainees were Saudi nationals who spread and financed Islamist militancy and that one was involved in an attack on the Abqaiq facility in February 2006.

The suspects' assets had been confiscated, it added, giving no more details.

'The Interior Ministry announces this to affirm its determination to confront those that belong to the deviant group,' it said." Read complete post here.

British soldier killed, three wounded in Iraq | International | Reuters

British soldier killed, three wounded in Iraq | International | Reuters: "BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - One British soldier was killed and three wounded on Thursday when they came under machinegun and rocket-propelled grenade fire during a raid near the southern Iraqi city of Basra, the British military said.

A British spokesman in Basra, Major David Gell, said the dead soldier, from 4th Battalion The Rifles, was killed during an early morning search and detention operation in which five men were detained and a large arms cache uncovered.

The incident took place in the al-Atiya district northwest of Basra, he said.

April was the bloodiest month for British forces in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. A total of 150 soldiers have now been killed." Read complete post here.

Suicide bomber kills 9 in Iraq attack on police HQ | International | Reuters

Suicide bomber kills 9 in Iraq attack on police HQ | International | Reuters: "MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide truck bomber killed nine people and wounded 22, including five British civilian contractors, in an attack in an Iraqi town near the Syrian border on Thursday, police said.

The bomber rammed the police headquarters and adjacent municipal building in the town of Rabea, northwest of Mosul in northern Iraq, police said.

The truck was packed with a large quantity of explosives and bodies were buried in the rubble of the destroyed buildings. Four policemen were among the dead.

Police said five Britons were among the wounded and had been evacuated for treatment. It was not immediately clear why they had been in the area, but many Britons are employed in Iraq as security contractors." Read complete post here.

Iraq's Sadr says Arab states must help for own sake | International | Reuters

Iraq's Sadr says Arab states must help for own sake | International | Reuters: "BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose feared Mehdi Army militia is accused of receiving arms and training from Iran, called on Arab states on Thursday to help end Iraq's suffering.

In his first interview since reappearing in public two weeks ago, Sadr rejected outside interference in Iraq, including from Iran, repeated his description of U.S. forces as 'occupiers' and blamed Washington for Iraq's violence and political instability.

In a rare interview aired late on Thursday on Iraq's al-Iraqiya television, Sadr called on Arab states to cooperate and to help 'put an end to the suffering of Iraqis'.

'We are not in need of anyone. The Arab states are in need of Iraq because security in Iraq is a part of their security,' the charismatic young cleric said." Read complete post here.

Gunmen kill journalist in Iraq's Mosul | International | Reuters

Gunmen kill journalist in Iraq's Mosul | International | Reuters: "BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A journalist working with the independent Aswat al-Iraq news agency in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul was killed by gunmen on Thursday, the agency said.

Sahar al-Haideri was married with three daughters, the agency said. Her body was found in the al-Hadbaa neighborhood of northeastern Mosul.

'Unknown armed people killed her today at noon,' Aswat al-Iraq (Voice of Iraq) said in a statement.

New York-based media watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the killing and said the gunmen who murdered her had answered her cell phone afterwards and told the caller 'she went to hell.'" Read complete post here.

World Crises | Reuters.com | Plans ready for UN Darfur force but not deployment

World Crises | Reuters.com | Plans ready for UN Darfur force but not deployment: "UNITED NATIONS, June 6 (Reuters) - The United Nations and the African Union were close to a deal on Wednesday on fielding 23,000 peacekeepers in Sudan's violent Darfur region, but full deployment is not expected until next year at the earliest.

The so-called 'hybrid' U.N.-A.U. force is the culmination of two earlier stages allowing the United Nations to bolster 7,000 beleaguered African Union troops.

Sudan has still to agree to the large force, after it refused to have an operation controlled solely by the United Nations. Top U.N. and AU officials approved a revised plan, which the AU's Peace and Security Committee and the U.N. Security Council are expected to endorse.

Should Sudan delay approval, the United States and Britain want to push for sanctions, including a no-fly zone over Darfur to help put an end to fighting that has uprooted more than 2 million people. Experts estimate 200,000 people have died." Read complete post here.

Italian, UK police break up Islamic militant cell | International | Reuters

Italian, UK police break up Islamic militant cell | International | Reuters: "MILAN (Reuters) - Italian and British police arrested nine suspected members of a North African Islamic militant group linked to al Qaeda, which had the potential to strike targets in Europe, Italian police said on Thursday.

The arrests targeted a cell of the al Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb, previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, or GSPC, police in Milan said. The nine arrested were Tunisians.

Police said the cell was a financial and logistical base sending money to camps in Afghanistan, but also recruited fighters and had links to attacks in Tunisia and Algeria this year." Read complete post here.

Bombers in Iraq kill 19, reporter shot dead | International | Reuters

Bombers in Iraq kill 19, reporter shot dead | International | Reuters: "BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Bombers struck in Baghdad and at a police headquarters in a northern Iraqi border town on Thursday, killing 19 people, and gunmen shot a reporter in the latest attack targeting Iraqi journalists.

In the worst violence, a suicide bomber driving a truck packed with explosives rammed a police headquarters and adjoining municipal building in the northern town of Rabea, near the Syrian border, killing nine people, police said.

The attack, which also wounded 22 people, including five British civilian contractors, largely destroyed both buildings, police said." Read complete post here.

Rival Palestinians factions clash in Gaza | International | Reuters

Rival Palestinians factions clash in Gaza | International | Reuters: "GAZA (Reuters) - Rival Hamas and Fatah forces clashed in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least one person and injuring 12 others, in the worst flare-up of factional fighting in almost three weeks.

The fighting spread across the southern Gaza town of Rafah as Hamas and Fatah gunmen set up checkpoints and took up positions on rooftops, two days after President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah said Palestinians were standing on the brink of civil war.

Israel is considering a new request from secular Fatah to allow shipments of arms and ammunition into Gaza from Egypt and other Arab states, Israeli and Western security sources said. Palestinian officials had no immediate comment." Read complete post here.

U.S. hopes Pakistan will not move to emergency rule | International | Reuters

U.S. hopes Pakistan will not move to emergency rule | International | Reuters: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Imposition of emergency rule would be a step backward for Pakistan and the United States hopes President Pervez Musharraf doesn't take such action, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.

The official told Reuters the Bush administration was not aware of any plans by Musharraf to declare emergency rule but acknowledged fears among Pakistanis that this could happen.

'If he did that, it would be a significant step backward and ... of course we would not want it to happen,' said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter." Read complete post here.

Turkish troops conduct exercises near Iraqi border | International | Reuters

Turkish troops conduct exercises near Iraqi border | International | Reuters: "CIZRE, Turkey (Reuters) - The rocky hills of Sirnak province echoed with the boom of tank shells fired by Turkish troops on Thursday in military exercises near the Iraqi border.

Reports of a cross-border operation against Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq fuelled tensions in the area on Wednesday although Turkey denied it had launched a major incursion.

The army has since announced a ban on all land and air travel between Iraq and three Turkish provinces, including Sirnak, as part of its operations against rebels of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

A Turkish newspaper said the 'temporary security area', which will be locked down between June 9 and September 9, would also be used for air force training exercises." Read complete post here.

Lebanese Islamists seek surrender of camp militants | U.S. | Reuters

Lebanese Islamists seek surrender of camp militants | U.S. | Reuters: "TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - Lebanese Islamists on Thursday sought the surrender of al Qaeda-inspired militants locked in deadly battles with troops at a Palestinian refugee camp but the group said it would not give itself up.

Two members of Lebanon's Islamic Action Front, which includes Sunni politicians and clerics, went to the Nahr al-Bared camp for talks with Fatah al-Islam's military commander Shahin Shahin, the Front's leader Fathi Yakan said.

'(Fatah al-Islam) have reached a dead end. They can only surrender,' Yakan said in the city of Tripoli, just south of Nahr al-Bared. 'The only thing that will convince them is sharia (Islamic law), and religious reason.'" Read complete post here.

CIA agents go on trial in Italy before Bush visit | U.S. | Reuters

CIA agents go on trial in Italy before Bush visit | U.S. | Reuters: "MILAN (Reuters) - Hours before President George W. Bush visits Italy, 26 U.S. citizens go on trial in absentia in Milan on Friday accused of carrying out one of Washington's most controversial policies in its war on terrorism.

The U.S. citizens, almost all believed to be CIA agents, have been charged with kidnapping a Muslim in Milan in 2003 who was on Washington's list of terrorist suspects and flying him to Egypt where he says he was tortured under interrogation.

Italian spies, including the former head of the country's SISMI intelligence agency, are accused of helping the U.S. citizens carry out the so-called extraordinary rendition." Read complete post here.

Rights groups press U.S. on ‘ghost detainees’ - U.S. Security - MSNBC.com

Rights groups press U.S. on ‘ghost detainees’ - U.S. Security - MSNBC.com: "LONDON - A coalition of human rights groups is demanding the United States account for 39 terror suspects it believes have been secretly imprisoned and published their names in a report being released Thursday.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and four other groups have drawn up a list of 39 so-called “ghost detainees” — people they claim are held by U.S. authorities and are still missing.

“What we’re asking is where are these 39 people now, and what’s happened to them since they ’disappeared’?” Joanne Mariner of Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said “there’s a lot of myth outside government when it comes to the CIA and the fight against terror.”

“The plain truth is that we act in strict accord with American law, and that our counterterror initiatives — which are subject to careful review and oversight — have been very effective in disrupting plots and saving lives,” Gimigliano said. “The United States does not conduct or condone torture.”

Information about the detainees was gleaned from interviews with former prisoners — such as Marwan Jabour, an Islamic militant who claims to have spent two years in CIA custody — and officials in the U.S., Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen, she said." Read complete post here.

U.S. gives terror informants $10 million - International Terrorism - MSNBC.com

U.S. gives terror informants $10 million - International Terrorism - MSNBC.com: "MANILA, Philippines - The U.S. ambassador to the Philippines handed over a $10 million reward Thursday to four Filipino informants whose tip led to the killing of the country’s two top terror suspects, the U.S. Embassy said.

It was the largest reward given so far by Washington in a campaign to wipe out al-Qaida-linked militants in the southern Philippines, where the U.S. military has been training and advising Filipino troops.

The U.S. promised a reward of up to $5 million each for Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, who was slain in a September clash on southern Jolo island, and his presumed successor, Abu Sulaiman, who was killed on Jolo in January.

“Information provided by the brave Filipino citizens recognized today was instrumental in assisting the Armed Forces of the Philippines to track down and locate these two terrorist leaders,” the embassy said in a statement.

The four men, wearing masks to protect their identities, received the money in five black plastic suitcases at the Jolo provincial capitol complex from embassy officials." Read complete post here.

British soldier shot dead in southern Iraq - MSNBC Wire Services - MSNBC.com

British soldier shot dead in southern Iraq - MSNBC Wire Services - MSNBC.com: "LONDON - A British soldier has been shot dead while on a search and detention operation in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, the Ministry of Defence said on Thursday.

It said the dead soldier was with the 4th Battalion The Rifles, whose patrol came under small arms fire early on Thursday in the Al Atiyah district northwest of Basra City.

Three other members of the Multi National Forces were injured in the operation, but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, the ministry said.

The death brings to 150 the number of British soldiers killed in Iraq since the U.S-led invasion of March 2003." Read complete post here.

Big Turkey incursion in Iraq would be US nightmare - MSNBC Wire Services - MSNBC.com

Big Turkey incursion in Iraq would be US nightmare - MSNBC Wire Services - MSNBC.com: "WASHINGTON - A large-scale invasion of Northern Iraq by Turkish forces would be a nightmare for the United States and could destabilize the one part of the country that is relatively calm, analysts said Thursday.

A Web site report Wednesday that 50,000 Turkish troops poured into Northern Iraq to fight Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas set off alarms in Washington, where U.S. officials scurried to try to find out what, if anything, had happened.

While Turkish, U.S. and Iraqi officials denied any major incursion had taken place, a military source said Turkish troops conducted a limited raid across the mountainous border." Read complete post here.

3 Turk Soldiers Killed in Security Zone - MSNBC Wire Services - MSNBC.com

3 Turk Soldiers Killed in Security Zone - MSNBC Wire Services - MSNBC.com: "ISTANBUL, Turkey - Turkey's military command declared its 'unshakable determination' early Friday to defeat Kurdish separatists hours after a roadside bomb killed three Turkish soldiers and wounded six.

The attack Thursday evening occurred in one of several 'temporary security zones' that the military had just declared along the Iraq border during its campaign against the guerrillas.

Authorities blamed the Kurdish rebels for the blast, which came amid increasing activity by Turkish troops along the frontier that has fed concerns the army might stage a large-scale offensive against rebel bases in the predominantly Kurdish region of northern Iraq." Read complete post here.

Turkey sets ’security zones’ near Iraq - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

Turkey sets ’security zones’ near Iraq - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com: "ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey has declared several areas near the border with Iraq to be “temporary security zones” in a sign of increasing activity by the military in its campaign against Kurdish rebels.

The declaration Wednesday came amid a Turkish military buildup on the border, and on the same day as Turkish security officials and an Iraqi Kurdish official said hundreds of Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish guerrillas who launch raids into Turkey. Turkey’s foreign minister denied there was a cross-border operation.

The military did not clarify what it meant by “temporary security zones,” but some Turkish media reports Thursday said the areas would be off-limits to civilian flights. Others said the zones meant that additional security measures would be implemented, and entry into the regions would be restricted and tightly controlled." Read complete post here.

Bush nominee worries Iraq can't do more - Politics - MSNBC.com

Bush nominee worries Iraq can't do more - Politics - MSNBC.com: "WASHINGTON - The Army general picked by President George W. Bush to become his war adviser said Thursday he has serious misgivings about the Iraqi government's ability to take control of the country, no matter how much pressure the United States applies.

'The question in my mind is not to what extent can we force them or lever them to a particular outcome but rather to what degree do they actually have the capacity themselves to produce that outcome,' Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

'And if produced or if pressed too hard will we, in turn, end up with an outcome that isn't really worth the paper it's written on?' he added." Read complete post here.

NBC: ‘Al-Qaida franchises' spreading - International Terrorism - MSNBC.com

NBC: ‘Al-Qaida franchises' spreading - International Terrorism - MSNBC.com: "BEIRUT, Lebanon — One Palestinian refugee camp here in northern Lebanon is today a smoldering, sniper-infested, booby-trapped battlefield where a few hundred al-Qaida inspired fighters have been making an Alamo-like last stand against the Lebanese army.

Another refugee camp in the south seems to be heading in the same direction, and there are more, many more, al-Qaida-inspired time bombs like these slowly ticking away in Lebanon and throughout the Middle East.

The jihad-inspired militants fighting Lebanese troops today in what’s left of the shelled, scorched and bullet-strafed Nahr al-Barid camp are from a small cell called Fatah al-Islam, “Islamic victory,” but the name isn’t important. There are other groups here too, Jund al-Sham, “Soldiers of the Levant,” Esbat al-Ansar, “League of Partisans,” and Al-Qaeda fi Bilad al-Sham, “al-Qaida in the Levant.”

While the names are unimportant (they change as the factions split off and meld into each other), don’t ignore the groups. It didn’t work for Lebanon, and won’t work for the rest of the Middle East and the United States." Read complete post here.

U.S. death toll in Iraq tops 3,500 - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

U.S. death toll in Iraq tops 3,500 - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com: "BAGHDAD - Another U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, the military said Thursday, pushing the four-year death toll for American forces to 3,501, according to an Associated Press tally.

The count includes 23 deaths in the first six days of June, an average of about four per day.

The soldier was killed Wednesday when a roadside bomb exploded during combat operations in a southwestern section of Baghdad, a military statement said. It added that two other soldiers were wounded in the attack and evacuated to a coalition medical facility.

The soldiers’ names were withheld pending notification of relatives.

The Bush administration has warned that the current troop buildup in and around Baghdad will result in more U.S. casualties as American troops increasingly come into contact with enemy forces.

Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner told reporters Wednesday that the last of five brigades earmarked for the buildup will arrive in the “next couple of weeks,” but may take up to two months to establish itself as fully operational." Read complete post here.

Lebanon sees bombing, sniper killing - Mideast/N. Africa - MSNBC.com

Lebanon sees bombing, sniper killing - Mideast/N. Africa - MSNBC.com: "BEIRUT, Lebanon - Islamic militants killed a soldier Thursday in a Palestinian camp where violence has raged for three weeks, and a bombing in a Christian town killed at least one man in the latest in a string of explosions that has shaken Lebanon since the fighting erupted.

In eastern Lebanon, an army raid on a suspected militant hideout uncovered vehicles rigged with explosives that were hidden in a garage with several rockets.

Tensions have been high in Lebanon since fighting broke out May 20 between the army and Fatah Islam militants in the northern Nahr el-Bared refugee camp. There also have been clashes at the Ein el-Hilweh camp in the south and several bombings in the Beirut area, sparking fears of spreading chaos.

The soldier was shot by Fatah Islam snipers in the Nahr el-Bared camp, security officials said. Earlier, the al-Qaida-inspired militants attacked an armored personnel carrier, wounding three soldiers, and the army retaliated by firing artillery, tanks and machine guns.

The bomb exploded in an industrial area in Zouk Mousbeh, 12 miles north of Beirut and near the town of Jounieh in the country's Christian heartland, security officials said. It set off fires in several buildings.

Civil defense workers pulled a man's body from a gutted building. Three other men were wounded in the blast, officials said.

Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. television said the area targeted consisted of about 300 shops that sell paint and other flammable materials to industrial customers. Stored gas and oxygen containers swiftly caught fire in the blast." Read complete post here.

G-8 OKs 'substantial cuts' in carbon - Climate Change - MSNBC.com

G-8 OKs 'substantial cuts' in carbon - Climate Change - MSNBC.com: "HEILIGENDAMM, Germany - Group of Eight leaders on Thursday agreed on a plan calling for 'substantial cuts' to greenhouse gas emissions, but the compromise with President Bush left France's leader wishing a stronger stand had been taken.

The leaders failed to overcome U.S. resistance to committing to specific numerical targets to curb global warming, but did refer to the European Union goal of cutting emissions by 50 percent by 2050.

'In terms of targets, we agreed on clear language ... that recognizes that (rises in) CO2 emissions must first be stopped and then followed by substantial cuts,' German Chancellor and G-8 host Angela Merkel told reporters.

The summit text confirmed that the world's leading industrialized nations would act to stem the rise in global warming gases, followed by 'substantial' reductions — the most serious commitment to date by the United States, the world's largest carbon emitter.

Leaders also vowed to pursue a new global climate deal by 2009 that would extend and broaden the U.N.-brokered Kyoto Protocol." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Twenty killed by cyclone in Oman

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Twenty killed by cyclone in Oman: "At least 20 people were killed when Cyclone Gonu struck the Gulf country of Oman, emergency officials say.

The storm was the strongest to hit the Gulf for decades, damaging buildings and trees in Oman's capital, Muscat, and leaving many roads flooded.

High winds and heavy rain were also reported, and electricity and water supplies were interrupted.

The cyclone has carried on north-west, gradually weakening as it approaches the Iranian coast.

Residents along the coast of southern Iran have moved to higher ground and sought shelter in schools and mosques.

There have been three reported fatalities, when a river in the southern port of Jask burst its banks and floodwater overturned a vehicle." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Fatah man shot dead in Gaza clash

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Fatah man shot dead in Gaza clash: "Hamas militants in Gaza have shot dead a member of the rival Fatah party, in the first eruption of Palestinian infighting after a two-week truce.

The man was killed when the home of his brother, a Fatah official, was surrounded by militants from Hamas.

Nine people were also hurt in the confrontation in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, hospital officials said.

Factional fighting between Hamas party and its Fatah rivals frequently erupts in the impoverished Gaza strip.

Recent truce deals between the two have been fragile.

More than 50 people were killed in the latest wave of fighting before a ceasefire deal came into effect.

Earlier this week, the Fatah leader and president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, warned that the factional violence could spill into civil war." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Italy police hold 10 'Islamists'

BBC NEWS | Europe | Italy police hold 10 'Islamists': "Italian police have arrested at least 10 suspected Islamist militants who are believed to be linked to the bombings that rocked Algiers in April.

The suspects, held in Milan, allegedly provided logistical and financial support for the militants in Algeria.

Two blasts killed at least 30 people and injured 160 in Algiers.

A group called the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat said it carried out the attacks. It later changed its name to al-Qaeda in the Maghreb.

Police said the suspects were also believed to be linked to Islamist activities in Tunisia in January.

The Milan suspects are reported to be Tunisians.

One of those targeted by police was named as Essid Sami Ben Khemais. He was about to leave jail after serving a sentence of six years and two months, but now a new detention warrant has been served for him, the Italian news website Il Giornale says.

The police raids followed a tip-off from Tlili Lazar, an Islamist extradited from France in November 2006, who is now co-operating with police, Il Giornale says." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Americas | US accused over 'ghost detainees'

BBC NEWS | Americas | US accused over 'ghost detainees': "Human rights groups have asked the US to reveal the whereabouts of 39 people who have allegedly been held in secret CIA-run prisons.

A report compiled by six human rights groups listed the names of people who remain unaccounted for after having passed through US custody.

The groups urged the US to stop using secret prisons for terror suspects.

The US last year admitted the existence of such prisons in its 'war on terror' but said they were no longer in use.

President George W Bush said last September that all secret prison sites were 'empty'." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | UK | Education | Corruption 'damaging education'

BBC NEWS | UK | Education | Corruption 'damaging education': "Bribery and corruption damage universities and schools across the world, according to a report for the UN's education wing, Unesco.

The study says education is plagued by rigged tendering processes, academic fraud and bribes over places and posts.

Academic fraud, such as fake degrees, is more common in the United States than in developing countries, it says.

The study of more than 60 countries says that in some, illegal use of funds meant for schools can be very high.

This loss between ministries and schools - or 'leakage' as it is called - can be as much as 80% of the non-salary cash for schools.

Recent surveys have shown that ghost teachers on school payrolls represent 5% of the payroll in Honduras and 15% in Papua New Guinea, according to the survey." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Saudi police round up militants

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Saudi police round up militants: "Saudi Arabia says it has detained 11 militants in the past two days, including one allegedly involved in an 2006 attack on a major oil facility.

The official news agency said the men, all Saudi nationals, were involved in inciting and financing the activities of what it called a deviant group.

It is the latest in a number of raids targeting suspected militants.

Saudi Arabia has been battling militants linked to al-Qaeda since a wave of bombings and shootings in 2003.

The attacks in 2003 and since have claimed the lives of nearly 300 security personnel, militants and Saudi and foreign civilians.

Saudi officials periodically claim to have crushed the insurgency but, although they have shut down part of the network, correspondents say the continuation of attacks suggests the problem is deep-rooted.

In April, the Saudi authorities announced the capture of 170 suspects, some of whom they said had been training as pilots for suicide missions." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Bomb kills one in Lebanese town

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Bomb kills one in Lebanese town: "A bomb has hit a Christian industrial area to the north of the Lebanese capital Beirut, killing one person and injuring several others, police say.

The explosion caused a fire in a factory in Zouk Mosbeh, near the town of Jounieh, police said.

There have been several bombings in and around Beirut since Lebanese troops began battling militants in a Palestinian refugee camp on 20 May.

On Monday a bomb exploded on an empty bus in Beirut, injuring seven people.

A police source told AFP news agency that a car bomb hit a warehouse used to fill oxygen cylinders.

A Lebanese foreman was killed and three Syrian workers were injured, the police source said. Most other workers had left the area for the day.

Firefighters and police rushed to the scene of the explosion and cordoned off the area.

Lebanese television pictures showed a badly damaged building and several destroyed cars.

The fighting at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp near Tripoli in northern Lebanon, is the country's worst violence since the end of its civil war 17 years ago." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | US army holds 32 in Iraqi raids

BBC NEWS | Middle East | US army holds 32 in Iraqi raids: "The US military in Iraq says it has detained 32 suspected militants in a series of overnight raids.

Some 16 were seized in Sadr City in Baghdad, a stronghold of Shia militias where US and Iraqi troops have been searching for five abducted Britons.

In north-western Iraq, at least nine people died in a suicide truck bomb attack on a police post in Rabia.

The new spokesman for the US military in Iraq has defended the recent 'surge' in troops aimed at tightening security.

The US military said the men detained overnight were suspected members of a network involved in bringing sophisticated bomb components into Iraq from Iran." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iraq Shias 'attack' Sunni mosques

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iraq Shias 'attack' Sunni mosques: "A prominent Iraqi Sunni party says Shia militiamen have attacked two Sunni mosques in Baghdad.

The Iraqi Islamic Party says the militiamen, backed by commando troops, raised their banners over the Rahman and Fataah Basha mosques.

The party says many Sunnis have been forced to flee the area. The mosques are in the Bayaa district, an area with a mix of Sunni and Shia residents.

The Shia-dominated government has not commented on the latest accusations.

It has said in the past that it is working to reduce sectarian tensions.

Sunni leaders have repeatedly complained that their community's mosques in Baghdad are under threat but the government is doing nothing about it." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Americas | US 'war tsar' had doubts on surge

BBC NEWS | Americas | US 'war tsar' had doubts on surge: "The general nominated to be the first US 'war tsar' has said he had initial doubts about the US troop surge in Iraq but that it should be given time.

Lt Gen Douglas Lute, picked last month by President Bush to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was speaking at his Senate confirmation hearing.

He said he had warned that pouring more troops into Iraq would only work if the Iraqi authorities also made efforts.

The Senate committee is expected to confirm Gen Lute in the post.

Once confirmed, he will report directly to President George W Bush as deputy national security adviser.

Gen Lute, 55, was appointed after a lengthy search in which several candidates apparently turned down the position. He is currently serving as director of operations at the Pentagon." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Afghan woman radio head shot dead

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Afghan woman radio head shot dead: "A female owner of a radio station in Afghanistan has been shot dead.

Zakia Zaki was shot seven times, including in the chest and head, as she slept with her 20-month-old son at her home north of Kabul, officials say.

The governor of Parvan province, where the attack took place, told the BBC he did not know who killed her. No one has admitted carrying out the attack.

Her murder came just days after a woman newsreader was killed for reasons which were described as 'family-related'." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Pakistan complainant goes missing

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Pakistan complainant goes missing: "A man who went to court in Pakistan blaming senior administration and police officials for last month's Karachi riots has gone missing.

Iqbal Kazmi's wife, Sadia, says she has not heard from him since Wednesday.

Mr Kazmi allegedly blamed Sindh chief minister Arbab Rahim, MQM party chief Altaf Hussain and other senior officials for the 12 May riots.

At least 41 people died in street clashes aimed at stopping the country's chief justice from visiting Karachi.

Suspended by President Pervez Musharraf in March, Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry has become the rallying point for the anti-government movement in the country." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Taleban handed commander's body

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Taleban handed commander's body: "The Taleban say Afghan officials have handed over to them the body of former senior commander Mullah Dadullah in exchange for the release of hostages.

Dadullah, who was killed last month in a battle, has been reburied in southern Kandahar province, the Taleban said.

Four hostages held by the Taleban have been freed, Afghan officials confirm. There is no news of a fifth hostage.

A Taleban spokesman said earlier the man was killed because the government delayed handing over Dadullah's body.

There was no immediate comment on the Taleban claim from the authorities.

The BBC's Charles Haviland in Kabul says government figures have tended to distance themselves from any link between the two issues." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Bangladesh pressed over UN expert

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Bangladesh pressed over UN expert: "UN officials are urging the authorities in Bangladesh to clarify the fate of a UN human rights expert prevented from leaving the country since mid-May.

Sigma Huda, a UN special rapporteur on people trafficking, faces charges under the military-backed caretaker government's anti-corruption drive.

Mrs Huda said the Supreme Court had withdrawn her permission to travel because she was a 'security threat'.

She was due to address the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva next week." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Police evict Tamils from Colombo

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Police evict Tamils from Colombo: "Police in Sri Lanka have forced hundreds of the minority Tamil community out of the capital Colombo for what they say are security reasons.

They launched overnight raids in Tamil areas of the city and forced guests staying in budget hotels onto buses.

Police said that Tamils who were in the capital 'without valid reasons' were made to board buses bound for the north and east of the island.

Police said that the move was necessary amid fears of renewed civil war." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Business | Saudi prince 'received arms cash'

BBC NEWS | Business | Saudi prince 'received arms cash': "A Saudi prince who negotiated a £40bn arms deal between Britain and Saudi Arabia received secret payments for over a decade, a BBC probe has found.

The UK's biggest arms dealer, BAE Systems, paid hundreds of millions of pounds to the ex-Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar bin Sultan.

The payments were made with the full knowledge of the Ministry of Defence.

Prince Bandar 'categorically' denied receiving any improper payments and BAE said it acted lawfully at all times.

The MoD said information about the Al Yamamah deal was confidential.

Sir Raymond Lygo, a former chief executive of BAE, told the BBC's World Business Report that there had been 'nothing untoward' about the arms deal.

'I was the one who won the contract,' he said. 'I don't know anything about him (the prince) at all. I would have remembered that name.'" Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Kenya police shoot sect suspects

BBC NEWS | Africa | Kenya police shoot sect suspects: "Police in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, have shot 12 Mungiki suspects during a major crackdown on followers of the banned sect, a commander says.

The police and paramilitaries have sealed off Mathare slum for a third day in a search for guns and sect members.

The BBC's Karen Allen at the scene says she saw several dead bodies being brought out of slum dwellings.

Twenty-one people were killed by police in a shoot-out on Tuesday following the killing of two policemen on patrol.

'When we were arresting, some of them came out shooting. As we fired back, 12 were killed,' police commander Paul Ruto told AP news agency." Read complete post here.

Johann Hari: Iraq's mercenaries - with a licence to kill - Independent Online Edition > Johann Hari

Johann Hari: Iraq's mercenaries - with a licence to kill - Independent Online Edition > Johann Hari: "'These private contractors can get away with murder... They aren't subject to any laws at all'

Iraq is rapidly vanishing into the mists of uncollectable, unknowable news, with information travelling only as far as an Iraqi scream can be heard. But sometimes, if you peer closely, you can glimpse reality. Last week, Shia militiamen seized four 'security contractors' working for the Canadian company Gardaworld. Buried in the story of this small horror is the bigger tale of a vast shift in how Western wars will be fought in the 21st century if the American right has its way - and one of the great lost scandals of this war.

These men are not 'security contractors', nor are they 'civilian operatives', nor 'reconstruction workers'. There are now more of them in Iraq than there are professional soldiers: Britain alone has 21,000 in the country, raking in $1.6bn a year.

As he scurried out the door in 2004, Paul Bremer - the first US viceroy to Iraq - issued Order 17, which exempted all mercenaries operating in the country from having to obey the law. He in effect gave these men a licence to kill - and they are using it, every day.

Yas Ali Mohammed Yassiri was a peaceful 19-year-old Iraqi trying to get on with an ordinary life in a deeply unordinary Baghdad when he boarded a taxi on his street in the Masbah neighbourhood. The mercenaries guarding the US embassy spokesman in Baghdad drove around the corner, so Ali's taxi slowed down - but the convoy opened fire anyway, to clear their path. Ali was hit in the throat and died immediately. Although the US embassy now admits the convoy 'opened fire prematurely', the mercenaries were merely sent home; they are free, happy men." Read complete post here.

Soviet-Style ‘Torture’ Becomes ‘Interrogation’ - New York Times

Soviet-Style ‘Torture’ Becomes ‘Interrogation’ - New York Times: "HOW did the United States, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, come to adopt interrogation techniques copied from the Soviet Union and other cold war adversaries?

Investigators for the Senate Armed Services Committee are examining how the methods, long used to train Americans for what they may face as prisoners of war, became the basis for American interrogations.

In 2002, the C.I.A. and the Pentagon became concerned that standard questioning was inadequate for suspected terrorists and turned to a military training program called Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape, or SERE. For decades, SERE trainers had exposed aviators and others at high risk for capture to Soviet-style tactics, including disrupted sleep, exposure to extreme heat and cold, and hours in uncomfortable stress positions. Sometimes the ordeal included waterboarding, in which a prisoner’s face is covered with cloth and water is poured from above to create a feeling of suffocation.

Some of those techniques have been used on prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and in Afghanistan and Iraq, and at the C.I.A.’s secret overseas jails for high-level operatives of Al Qaeda.

Many SERE veterans were appalled at the “reverse engineering” of their methods, said Charles A. Morgan III, a Yale psychiatrist who has worked closely with SERE trainers for a decade.

“How did something used as an example of what an unethical government would do become something we do?” he asked." Read complete post here.

25% of illegal building in W. Bank on Arab land - Haaretz - Israel News

25% of illegal building in W. Bank on Arab land - Haaretz - Israel News: "At least 25 percent of the structures built by Israelis in the West Bank's Area C (full Israeli control) were constructed on private Arab-owned land, an internal report by the Civil Administration found.

According to the report, only 0.5 percent of the illegal structures were constructed on land registered to Jewish owners.

The data also indicate that Israel is practicing a discriminatory policy: It is more lenient on illegal construction by Jews than by Palestinians.

Although the Jewish population in the area is four times bigger than the Arab population, the authorities have demolished triple the number of Palestinian structures compared to Jewish structures." Read complete post here.

Robo-Snipers, 'Auto Kill Zones' to Protect Israeli Borders

Danger Room - Wired Blogs: "For years and years, the Israeli military has been trying to figure out a way to keep Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip from crossing over into Israel proper. The latest tactic: create a set of 'automated kill zones' by networking together remote-controlled machine guns, ground sensors, and drones along the 60-kilometer border.

Defense News' Barbara Opall-Rome reports that 'initial deployment plans for the See-Shoot system call for mounting a 0.5-caliber automated machine gun in each of several pillboxes interspersed along the Gaza border fence.'" Read complete post here.

Experts cast doubt on credibility of JFK terror plot - Yahoo! News

Experts cast doubt on credibility of JFK terror plot - Yahoo! News: "NEW YORK (AFP) - An alleged plot to blow up fuel tanks and pipelines at New York's JFK airport had little chance of success, according to safety experts, who have questioned whether the plot ever posed a real threat.

US authorities said Saturday they had averted an attack that could have resulted in 'unfathomable damage, deaths, and destruction,' and charged four alleged Islamic radicals with conspiracy to cause an explosion at the airport.

But according to the experts, it would have been next to impossible to cause an explosion in the jet fuel tanks and pipeline. Furthermore, the plotters seem to have lacked the explosives and financial backing to carry out the attack.

John Goglia, a former member of National Transportation Safety Board, said that if the plot had ever been carried out, it would likely have sparked a fire but little else, and certainly not the mass carnage authorities described.

'You could definitely reach the tank, definitely start the fire, but to get the kind of explosion that they were thinking that they were going to get... this is virtually impossible to do,' he told AFP.

The fuel pipelines around the airport would similarly burn, rather than explode, because they are a full of fuel and unable to mix with enough oxygen.

'We had a number of fires in the US. All that happens is a big fire,' he said. 'It won't blow up, it will only burn.'" Read complete post here.

Report: IDF fire wounds 4 Palestinians | Jerusalem Post

Report: IDF fire wounds 4 Palestinians | Jerusalem Post: "Four Palestinian youths were wounded by IDF gunfire near their school in the West Bank village of Kabatiya, south of Jenin, Palestinian sources claimed on Tuesday.

According to the report on Israel Radio, two of the youths were wounded moderately and the other two lightly.

The IDF also arrested nine Palestinian fugitives in the town during the operation, including three Islamic Jihad members, the sources said, claiming that the army had taken over several houses in the town.

The army confirmed that an operation was underway in Jenin, adding that two pipe bombs had been thrown at IDF troops during the morning's operation and that the soldiers had reacted with the same methods used to disperse demonstrations." Read complete post here.

US still opposed to Syria Israel talks | Jerusalem Post

US still opposed to Syria Israel talks | Jerusalem Post: "For the foreseeable future, negotiations between Israel and Syria would only further destabilize matters in the region, according to a member of the US administration.

The administration source, accompanying US President George W. Bush in Prague, said the Syrian issue would not be on the agenda when Prime Minister Ehud Olmert visits Washington in two weeks. He was responding to calls in Israel in recent days in favor of engaging the Assad regime.

The US continues to believe that Syria should be isolated from the diplomatic process in the region until it severs ties with Hizbullah and Hamas. Talks between Israel and Syria would quickly break down, creating an explosive situation in which warfare between the two countries might break out, the source said. The US administration was aware of the fears within the Israeli intelligence community that an isolated Assad would launch a military attack on Israel, but didn't view that outcome as likely, the source added." Read complete post here.

IDF holds simulation of war with Syria | Jerusalem Post

IDF holds simulation of war with Syria | Jerusalem Post: "With tension rising along Israel's northern border, the IDF held a large-scale exercise on Tuesday in the South, simulating Israeli infantry, armor and airborne units conquering a Syrian village.

Watching the exercise at the IDF's Shizafon Base outside Eilat, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that the military was preparing for the possibility that war would break out with Syria. But, he stressed, the increase in IDF training, including Tuesday's exercise, did not mean that Israel intended to initiate a war.

'Our readiness is not indicative of any decision on our side or by the Syrians to go to war,' he said. 'We view [these] as purely defensive measures.'" Read complete post here.

Israel to ask Washington for limits on Saudi missile deal | Jerusalem Post

Israel to ask Washington for limits on Saudi missile deal | Jerusalem Post: "A high-level Israeli delegation will meet with officials in Washington this week and demand that restrictions be clamped on the proposed US sale of state-of-the-art weaponry to Saudi Arabia, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The talks are expected to center on the US decision to sell Joint Direct Attack Munition satellite-guided 'smart bombs' to Saudi Arabia. The sale has caused consternation in Jerusalem over concern it could tip the balance of power in the region.

If the sale does go through, Israel has expressed interest in acquiring the F-22 stealth bomber - a plane that can avoid radar detection and is the world's most advanced fighter jet - to maintain its qualitative edge. In April, the Post reported that the IAF had inquired about obtaining the aircraft and had requested that the Defense Ministry present the request on its behalf to the Pentagon." Read complete post here.

Evacuation of settlers from Hebron home unlikely in near future - Haaretz - Israel News

Evacuation of settlers from Hebron home unlikely in near future

- Haaretz - Israel News: "The evacuation of settlers from a Palestinian home in Hebron will be deferred for a long time, if it takes place at all, senior defense officials said on Tuesday.

The comments coincided with a gathering of about 200 Peace Now demonstrators in the West Bank city to mark the 40th anniversary of the outbreak of the Six Day War. The demonstrators urged the government to remove all settlers from the biblical city and held signs that reiterated this demand.

They faced off against 30 counter-demonstrators, who carried signs calling them traitors. Local Palestinians peered out of their windows at the protest, which took place near the Cave of the Patriarchs, while dozens of soldiers stood guard." Read complete post here.

UN chief: Six-Day War reminds us peace won't come by force - Haaretz - Israel News

UN chief: Six-Day War reminds us peace won't come by force - Haaretz - Israel News: "On the 40th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday remembered those who were killed and whose lives were shattered by the conflict.

'The anniversary serves as a reminder that statehood for Palestinians, security for Israelis, and peace in the region cannot be achieved by force,' said a statement from Ban's spokeswoman Michele Montas.

During the 1967 war, Israel defeated three Arab armies: It captured the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria, and the West Bank and east Jerusalem from Jordan." Read complete post here.

Peace Index: May 2007 / The Qassam dilemma - Haaretz - Israel News

Peace Index: May 2007 / The Qassam dilemma - Haaretz - Israel News: "The Jewish public is divided over Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's statement that there is no immediate and total way to stop the Qassam fire on Sderot. In addition it believes that the conclusions of the Winograd Committee's interim report are deterring the government from launching a military operation in the Gaza Strip. Indeed, although a majority of the public opposes it, a small minority favors reoccupying Gaza and leaving Israel Defense Forces troops there to keep things quiet. A majority, however, supports a more limited ground operation in the Strip after which IDF forces would leave again. The public is evenly divided on the issue of direct political negotiations with Hamas on halting the Qassam rocket fire. However, an overwhelming majority opposes responding positively to Hamas' offer to stop the Qassam fire in return for halting Israel's security operations in the West Bank, including arrests and strikes on the organization's activists." Read complete post here.

IDF chief: Army bracing for escalation on Palestinian, northern fronts - Haaretz - Israel News

IDF chief: Army bracing for escalation on Palestinian, northern fronts - Haaretz - Israel News: "Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said Tuesday that the army is preparing for a deterioration on the Palestinian front as well as in the north.

During a visit to the Shizafon army base in southern Israel, Ashkenazi said the IDF is currently working at improving its preparedness for conflict while simultaneously fighting terror.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz also spoke at the base Tuesday and said that there is no indication that Syria, Israel's northern neighbor, is interested in engaging in war with Israel, as some recent reports have suggested. Peretz expressed his hopes that the verbal escalation between the two countries will not evolve into an armed conflict. 'IDF is continually training and I hope the Syrians won't misinterpret that,' he said." Read complete post here.

IDF probes soldiers' use of Palestinian human shields - Haaretz - Israel News

IDF probes soldiers' use of Palestinian human shields

- Haaretz - Israel News: "Israel Defense Forces' criminal investigation division is probing soldiers' use of Palestinians as human shields during raids in the West Bank town of Nablus. The investigation will include the questioning of senior officers, and could have repercussions in the next round of general staff appointments.

The affair began over three months ago, when foreign television crews filmed IDF soldiers forcing Palestinians to search their neighbors' homes for militants, in case the wanted gunmen should open fire. Some two years ago, upon completing a long and drawn out legal debate, the High Court of Justice decided to outlaw the use of Palestinians as human shields, as it endangers their lives and violates their basic human rights. The IDF has since pledged to refrain from doing this, though from time to time there have been recorded incidents of such behavior." Read complete post here.

Intelligence: Syria's border forces a concern - Haaretz - Israel News

Intelligence: Syria's border forces a concern

- Haaretz - Israel News: "The security cabinet will hold a discussion this morning on the situation on the Syrian and Lebanese borders and the likelihood of war in the north.

Central to the discussions will be intelligence assessments about the growing strength of both the Syrian army and Hezbollah, as well as about the intentions of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The majority view in Military Intelligence holds that Assad is well placed to carry out a a surprise attack on the Golan Heights, but is unlikely to initiate a war." Read complete post here.

PM aides fear talks with Syria could harm U.S. ties - Haaretz - Israel News

PM aides fear talks with Syria could harm U.S. ties - Haaretz - Israel News: "Some of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's advisors are concerned that an initiative to renew peace talks with Syria might undermine Israel's relations with the United States.

The Bush administration is not keen on reviving the Syrian track, as it considers Bashar Assad's regime problematic and harmful to regional stability.

However, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi strongly supports renewed talks with Syria, with the goal of distancing Damascus from its alliance with Iran and contributing to a new regional order in which Syria would forge closer relations with moderate Arab states." Read complete post here.

Bloodshed is spreading across Afghanistan, warn aid workers - Independent Online Edition > Asia

Bloodshed is spreading across Afghanistan, warn aid workers - Independent Online Edition > Asia: "Bloodshed is spreading to previously stable provinces of Afghanistan, threatening aid efforts as humanitarian workers contend with growing numbers of attacks from insurgents and criminals.

Aid workers involved in redevelopment are not only worried that the rising insecurity is jeopardising projects, but fear it is pushing disgruntled Afghans into the hands of the Taliban and adding fuel to a guerrilla war that now rages across much of the country.

In the past two months, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has suffered 12 attacks on trucks transporting goods, compared with 12 in the 10 months before that. Hundreds of thousands of dollars-worth of aid has been stolen. '[The attackers] are typically stopping the vehicles that are carrying food, detaining the drivers and the vehicles for a period of time, offloading the food and usually allowing the drivers and the vehicles to go on,' Rick Corsino, the WFP's country director, said." Read complete post here.

Gates Says Arms Go to Taliban, but Iran’s Role Is Not Certain - New York Times

Gates Says Arms Go to Taliban, but Iran’s Role Is Not Certain - New York Times: "KABUL, Afghanistan, June 4 — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Monday that Iranian weapons were being smuggled into Afghanistan and into the hands of Taliban fighters, but that it was unclear whether Iran’s government was behind the arms shipments.

But President Hamid Karzai, standing next to Mr. Gates after the two met at the presidential palace here, seemed little concerned about Iranian meddling in his country. He said relations between Iran and Afghanistan had “never been as friendly as they are today.”

Mr. Gates’s comments about the arms shipments echoed those made by top military commanders in recent weeks. American intelligence officials are trying to determine what role, if any, the Iranian government has had in arming the Taliban.

“There clearly is evidence that some weapons are coming into Afghanistan destined for the Taliban,” Mr. Gates said. He also raised the possibility that drug smugglers or other criminal networks could be behind the flow of weapons.

American officials say that even as Iran pledges its support for the Karzai government, it is possible that it is trying to destabilize its neighbor to the east to tie down American forces in the country. American military officials have said they believe that a large part of the arms shipments has been material to make roadside bombs. " Read complete post here.

NATO Sinks Second Boat Full of Taliban Fighters - New York Times

NATO Sinks Second Boat Full of Taliban Fighters - New York Times: "KABUL, Afghanistan, June 5 — The Afghan defense ministry said that NATO helicopters attacked and sank a second boat full of Taliban fighters trying to escape across the Helmand River in southern Afghanistan. All of the 20 to 30 Taliban fighters on board were drowned, according to the spokesman, Gen. Zaher Azimi.

The boat was the second to be reported sunk in the area in three days. The first went down Saturday with about 60 people aboard; there were conflicting reports about whether they were civilians or Taliban fighters.

General Azimi said today that Taliban fighters in boat that was sunk today had fired on the NATO helicopters, and that the helicopters’ return fire destroyed the vessel.

The general said there was heavy fighting in other areas as well today. Afghan troops were ambushed in Kandahar province and called in airstrikes, reportedly hitting a group of 20 to 40 Taliban fighters. In all, two Afghan soldiers were killed and three others injured in the last 24 hours, he said." Read complete post here.

Cheated of Future, Iraqi Graduates Want to Flee - New York Times

Cheated of Future, Iraqi Graduates Want to Flee - New York Times: "BAGHDAD, June 4 — They started college just before or after the American invasion with dreams of new friends and parties, brilliant teachers and advanced degrees that would lead to stellar jobs, marriage and children. Success seemed well within their grasp.

Four years later, Iraq’s college graduates are ending their studies shattered and eager to leave the country. In interviews with more than 30 students from seven universities, all but four said they hoped to flee immediately after receiving their degrees. Many said they did not expect Iraq to stabilize for at least a decade.

“I used to dream about getting a Ph.D., participating in international conferences, belonging to a team that discovered cures for diseases like AIDS, leaving my fingerprint on medicine,” said Hasan Tariq Khaldoon, 24, a pharmacy student in Mosul, in the north. “Now all these dreams have evaporated.”

Karar Alaa, 25, a medical student at Babil University, south of Baghdad, said, “Staying here is like committing suicide.”" Read complete post here.

Dozens Killed in Violence Around Iraq - New York Times

Dozens Killed in Violence Around Iraq - New York Times: "BAGHDAD, June 5 — Up to 18 people were killed south of Falluja today when a suicide bomber driving a truck packed with high explosives plowed into a busy commercial district. The attack also wounded at least 15 people, according to a local Iraqi police official.

An American military spokesman put the toll at 15 killed and 13 wounded.

A security official in Anbar Province said that just hours after this morning’s attack in Falluja, another suicide bomber used a truck full of explosives hidden beneath piles of raw wool to attack an Iraqi police checkpoint in eastern Ramadi, killing eight policemen and wounding four more. But a Marine spokesman, Maj. Jeff Pool, later said that reports of the bombing were false. “Nothing happened there,” he said.

Another suicide bomb attack was foiled in Baghdad this when a woman wearing an explosive belt approached a line of Shiite police recruits in the eastern part of the capital but was shot by police commandos. Suspecting the woman was a bomber, the commandos chased her away from the line, an Interior Ministry official said, but her explosive device detonated and injured three of her pursuers." Read complete post here.

Suicide Blast Kills 15 West of Iraqi Capital - washingtonpost.com

Suicide Blast Kills 15 West of Iraqi Capital - washingtonpost.com: "BAGHDAD, June 5 -- A suicide car bomb exploded in a crowded market west of the capital Tuesday morning, killing 15 people, while a female suicide bomber in east Baghdad was spotted by police and killed by gunfire that set off her explosives before she could reach her target, U.S. and Iraq security officials said.

The market bombing occurred about 10:40 a.m. in Amiriyah, a town in Sunni Arab-dominated Anbar province about 30 miles west of Baghdad, according to Maj. Jeff Pool, a U.S. military spokesman. He said a suicide attacker drove the car into the town's marketplace and exploded the vehicle, wounding 13 people in addition to the 15 fatalities." Read complete post here.

As Crises Build, Lebanese Fearful of a Failed State - washingtonpost.com

As Crises Build, Lebanese Fearful of a Failed State - washingtonpost.com: "TRIPOLI, Lebanon, June 4 -- A few miles from Mona Abboud's bookstore in Tripoli, passengers in cars ducked below the dashboard as volleys of gunfire resounded like a jackhammer Monday. Earlier in the day, more clashes erupted at a Palestinian refugee camp three hours from here. By nightfall, a bomb had gone off in a Christian suburb of the capital, Beirut, the fourth in less than a month.

A grim Abboud, her hands thrusting ahead for emphasis, compared her country's plight to a debke, a folkloric dance." Read complete post here.

U.N. urges Pakistan not to push back Afghan refugees | International | Reuters

U.N. urges Pakistan not to push back Afghan refugees | International | Reuters: "KABUL (Reuters) - The United Nations urged Pakistan on Tuesday not to force Afghan refugees back to their homeland when it shuts four border camps soon, saying Afghanistan was already swamped by Afghans evicted from Iran.

Afghanistan, crippled by more than 20 years of war, has millions of its people either in refugee camps or working illegally in neighboring Pakistan and Iran. Many send back money, sustaining communities inside the impoverished nation.

But in April Iran stepped up evictions of Afghans classed as illegal immigrants, deporting about 100,000 Afghans since then -- equal to almost a third of all those previously evicted by Iran in 2006, the U.N. refugee agency, the UNHCR, said on Tuesday.

Now, with Pakistan planning to shut down camps holding more than 220,000 Afghan refugees by the end of August, the UNHCR urged Pakistan to tread carefully, fearful that impoverished Afghanistan could be hit from east and west by floods of people.

'It has to happen in a peaceful way,' said the UNHCR's representative to Afghanistan, Salvatore Lombardo.

Pakistan says more than 2 million Afghan refugees and wants them to go home, saying refugee camps are fertile recruiting grounds for Afghan Taliban insurgents." Read complete post here.

Beijing to evict 1.5 million for Olympics: group | International | Reuters

Beijing to evict 1.5 million for Olympics: group | International | Reuters: "BEIJING (Reuters) - Some 1.5 million residents of Beijing will be displaced by the time it hosts the 2008 Olympics, many of them evicted against their will, a rights group said on Tuesday, prompting a sharp denial by China.

The Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) said residents were often forced from their homes with little notice and little compensation, as the government embarks on a massive city redevelopment to accommodate the Games.

'In Beijing, and in China more generally, the process of demolition and eviction is characterized by arbitrariness and lack of due process,' the group said in a report." Read complete post here.

Rival Palestinian forces clash near Gaza crossing | International | Reuters

Rival Palestinian forces clash near Gaza crossing | International | Reuters: "GAZA (Reuters) - Rival Palestinian forces clashed in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday near the strategic Karni commercial crossing in the most serious flare-up in factional fighting in more than two weeks.

An officer with President Mahmoud Abbas's Presidential Guard said a 'large number' of Hamas fighters tried to infiltrate a key Presidential Guard position near the crossing, wounding at least one guard member.

The officer and a senior Western security source said the Hamas fighters were pushed back after a nearly three-hour gun battle with the Presidential Guard, a Fatah-dominated force that is loyal to Abbas and receives U.S. backing." Read complete post here.

Up to 30 Taliban killed in boat attack: Afghan army | International | Reuters

Up to 30 Taliban killed in boat attack: Afghan army | International | Reuters: "KABUL (Reuters) - U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces have killed up to 30 Taliban fighters as they tried to escape on a boat from a battle in southern Afghanistan, an Afghan government spokesman said on Tuesday.

Violence has escalated in Afghanistan in recent months after the traditional winter lull, following last year's bloodiest fighting since the Taliban's ouster in 2001.

The boat came under fire from U.S. helicopters and joint ground fire on Monday in the Helmand River of Helmand province, a defence ministry spokesman said.

'The Taliban fired at the choppers and in a retaliatory attack later, between 20 and 30 Taliban were killed,' Zahir Azimi said.

At the weekend, 60 Taliban were drowned when another boat capsized in an accident in the same river, he said. Helmand province has been the scene of bloody clashes in recent months." Read complete post here.

Palestinians sad, Israelis proud on war anniversary | International | Reuters

Palestinians sad, Israelis proud on war anniversary | International | Reuters: "JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinians expressed sadness while Israelis voiced pride on Tuesday on the 40th anniversary of the start of a brief war that changed all their lives.

In Jerusalem's Old City, seized by Israel in what would be called the Six Day War, there was the usual bustle. Jews and Arabs ran errands and foreign tourists sought out bazaar bargains and sites sacred to Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

'Today life is normal. But the sadness is inside every person,' said a 51-year-old Palestinian stall holder, who gave his name as Samir. 'This is a bad day because we're still seeking our freedom.'

Palestinians remember June 5 for the 'naksa', or setback, of Israel's lightning 1967 victory over Arab armies that followed the 'nakba' -- disaster -- of Israel's founding in 1948, when many were driven from or fled their lands, becoming refugees.

But a few streets away in the walled city's Jewish quarter, a shopkeeper said Palestinians should accept the situation.

'We should show the world that this is a unique day for Israel,' said jewellery store owner Perla Daisey Filiba, 51.

'The Arabs across the alley should accept us being here and they should know that Israel is the land of the Jewish people ... and Jerusalem is our capital.'" Read complete post here.

Sri Lanka jets pound rebels as Japan envoy flies in | Reuters

Sri Lanka jets pound rebels as Japan envoy flies in | Reuters: "COLOMBO, June 5 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan fighter jets bombed a Tamil Tiger training camp in the rebel-held north on Tuesday, the military said, as Japan's peace envoy began a visit seeking ways to arrest an escalation in the two-decade civil war.

In a separate incident, the military said a roadside bomb planted by suspected Tigers killed an elite police commando in the eastern district of Batticaloa.

United States Ambassador Robert Blake and visiting U.S. disaster management officials were touring the district at the time, but were nowhere near the blast, a U.S. embassy spokesman said.

'An air strike was launched on a Tiger military base this morning,' a spokesman for the Media Centre for National Security said, declining to be named in line with protocol. 'The camp has been destroyed.'" Read complete post here.

A third of Zimbabweans will need food aid-groups | Reuters

A third of Zimbabweans will need food aid-groups | Reuters: "HARARE, June 5 (Reuters) - More than a third of Zimbabweans will need food aid by early 2008 after a poor harvest this year, leading international aid organisations said on Tuesday.

A joint U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) report said crop failures in southern provinces and rising poverty would see about 2.1 million people facing serious food shortages by the third quarter of this year.

The number would grow to 4.1 million in the first three months of 2008, which is a third of Zimbabwe's estimated 12 million people." Read complete post here.

Attacks displace up to 20,000 Central Africans - UN | Reuters

Attacks displace up to 20,000 Central Africans - UN | Reuters: "BANGUI, June 5 (Reuters) - Up to 20,000 people fled their homes in Central African Republic last week when the army torched hundreds of houses after a rebel attack, U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday, quoting local relief workers.

The northwest of the former French colony has seen waves of violence in the past two years, with sporadic rebel attacks and counter-raids by government troops who have burnt thousands of straw-thatched mud houses trying to flush out rebels.

Humanitarian agencies reckon some 290,000 civilians from northern Central African Republic have been forcibly displaced in the past 18 months, including 78,000 who have crossed into neighbouring Chad, Cameroon and Sudan.

Last week's violence in the town of Ngaoundaye, not far from the borders of Cameroon and Chad, sent nearly 300 people fleeing across the border into Chad, including men with bullet wounds, the UNHCR said.

It gave no indication of any death toll.

'After initial rebel attacks on Ngaoundaye, government forces reportedly entered the town and burned 540 houses, forcing most of the estimated 3,000 to 4,000 inhabitants to flee their homes,' the Geneva-based agency said in a briefing note.

'The area remains insecure and inaccessible to U.N. staff. It is difficult to get precise information but initial reports from humanitarian workers on the ground indicate that up to 20,000 people might be displaced in the area,' it said.

Officials in the area could not be reached for comment." Read complete post here.

Car bomb near Iraq's Falluja kills 19: police | International | Reuters

Car bomb near Iraq's Falluja kills 19: police | International | Reuters: "BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 19 people were killed and 25 others were wounded when a suicide bomber blew up his car in a market just outside Iraq's western city of Falluja on Tuesday, police said.

Hospital sources said most of the victims were women and children.

A suicide bomber killed at least 20 people and wounded another 20 last week when he blew himself up in a queue of about 150 young men at a police recruitment centre in Diyala province.

Falluja, 50 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad, is in restive Anbar province, a stronghold of Sunni Arab insurgency." Read complete post here.

UK says Sudan faces tough action if no Darfur progress | International | Reuters

UK says Sudan faces tough action if no Darfur progress | International | Reuters: "LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will push for tougher U.N. sanctions against Sudan if its government does not support international efforts to end the conflict in Darfur, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said on Tuesday.

All sides in the Darfur conflict faced a choice of committing to the political process outlined by the African Union and United Nations or 'face the consequences,' Beckett told Britain's parliament during a debate on Darfur.

Sudan's cooperation would lead to an end of sanctions and more money for reconstruction and development, she said." Read complete post here.

Lebanese army resumes shelling of Islamist group | International | Reuters

Lebanese army resumes shelling of Islamist group | International | Reuters: "NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (Reuters) - Lebanese troops resumed their shelling of a Palestinian refugee camp on Tuesday, trying to force the surrender of al Qaeda-inspired militants entrenched amid thousands of civilians.

Intermittent bursts of gunfire and explosions were heard through the day at Fatah al-Islam's base in Nahr al-Bared camp in north Lebanon, a sprawling shanty town which has been pounded by army artillery in more than two weeks of fighting.

'We saw things we had never seen in life,' a wounded woman evacuated from the camp said on Tuesday. 'I spent five or six days without bread or water. We thought the ones who did not die from the shelling would die from hunger.'

At least 114 people have been killed in the Nahr al-Bared fighting, including 46 soldiers. The army says Fatah al-Islam triggered the conflict when it attacked the army on May 20. It renewed its call for the militants to surrender." Read complete post here.

Iran warns against new sanctions | International | Reuters

Iran warns against new sanctions | International | Reuters: "BERLIN (Reuters) - Iran warned the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday against imposing more sanctions over its nuclear work, saying it was like 'playing with a lion's tail' as its top negotiator met Germany's foreign minister.

The talks in Berlin between Ali Larijani and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, coming two weeks after a negative U.N. nuclear watchdog report on Iran that could trigger tougher sanctions soon, ended without any sign of a breakthrough.

Asked whether progress had been made in his meeting with Larijani, Steinmeier replied: 'I cannot say that ... I cannot tell you whether we will come to a result.'" Read complete post here.

2 Guantanamo detainees’ cases tossed - Focus on Guantanamo - MSNBC.com

2 Guantanamo detainees’ cases tossed - Focus on Guantanamo - MSNBC.com: "GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - Military judges dismissed charges Monday against a Guantanamo detainee who chauffeured Osama bin Laden and another who allegedly killed a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan, marking a stunning setback to Washington's attempts to try detainees in military court.

In back-to-back arraignments for Canadian Omar Khadr and Salim Ahmed Hamdan, of Yemen, the U.S. military's cases against the alleged al-Qaida figures dissolved because, the two judges said, the government had failed to establish jurisdiction.

They were the only two of the roughly 380 prisoners at Guantanamo charged with crimes, and the rulings stand to complicate efforts by the United States to try other suspected al-Qaida and Taliban figures in military courts." Read complete post here.

4.2 Million Iraqis Are Now Displaced - MSNBC Wire Services - MSNBC.com

4.2 Million Iraqis Are Now Displaced - MSNBC Wire Services - MSNBC.com: "GENEVA - More than 4 million Iraqis have now been displaced by violence in the country, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday, warning that the figure will continue to rise.

The number of Iraqis who have fled the country as refugees has risen to 2.2 million, said Jennifer Pagonis, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. A further 2 million have been driven from their homes but remain within the country, increasingly in 'impoverished shanty towns,' she said.

Pagonis said UNHCR is receiving 'disturbing reports' of regional authorities doing little to provide displaced people with food, shelter and other basic services.

'Individual governorates inside Iraq are becoming overwhelmed by the needs of the displaced,' Pagonis told reporters in Geneva, where UNHCR has its headquarters." Read complete post here.

Al-Qaida group says abducted GIs were slain - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

Al-Qaida group says abducted GIs were slain - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com: "CAIRO, Egypt - An al-Qaida umbrella group claimed in a new video Monday that its militants killed three U.S. soldiers after capturing them last month. In Baghdad, the U.S. military condemned the claim and said the search for them will continue.

An Islamic militant Web site said earlier on Monday it would soon release video clips showing the capture of three American soldiers who disappeared following an ambush in Iraq in mid-May. The body of one soldier was later found, but the other two remain missing.

The video shows the kidnapping as well as footage from after the attack, according to the Washington-based SITE Institute, which said it had obtained the 10-minute, 41-second clip." Read complete post here.

Gates prods Iraqi government - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

Gates prods Iraqi government - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com: "BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - Defense Secretary Robert Gates hinted Tuesday at American impatience with the pace of Iraqi political reconciliation, more than four months into the U.S. troop buildup.

“We would certainly be happier if there were faster progress on the political front,” Gates said. He noted that the Iraqis missed a May 31 deadline for passing an energy law — one of many political obstacles yet to be overcome.

Gates did not directly criticize the Iraqis but his comments underscored the Bush administration’s concern that they establish a government of national unity — seen as the key to stability — before the U.S. public’s dissatisfaction with the war effort reaches the point where a troop pullout cannot be avoided." Read complete post here.

White House disagrees with Gitmo ruling - Focus on Guantanamo - MSNBC.com

White House disagrees with Gitmo ruling - Focus on Guantanamo - MSNBC.com: "PRAGUE, Czech Republic - The White House on Tuesday said it disagreed with rulings by U.S. military judges to drop all war crimes charges against two Guantanamo prisoners facing trial, and that the Defense Department was considering whether to appeal.

“We don’t agree with the ruling on the military commissions,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters in Prague where President Bush is meeting with leaders of the Czech Republic.

The judges on Monday said they lacked jurisdiction under the strict definition of those eligible for trial by military tribunal under a law enacted last year.

The Defense Department “will make a determination as to whether it’s appropriate to file an appeal or not,” Fratto said. “It does show that the system is taking great care to be within the letter of the law.”

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who was traveling in Asia, said he was not familiar with the details of the ruling.

“If it is as described, that’s the reason we have a judicial process in all of this and we’ll have to take a look at it and see what the implications are,” he said." Read complete post here.

U.N.: More than 4 million Iraqis displaced - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

U.N.: More than 4 million Iraqis displaced - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com: "GENEVA - More than 4 million Iraqis have now been displaced by violence in the country, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday, warning that the figure will continue to rise.

The number of Iraqis who have fled the country as refugees has risen to 2.2 million, said Jennifer Pagonis, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. A further 2 million have been driven from their homes but remain within the country, increasingly in “impoverished shanty towns,” she said.

Pagonis said UNHCR is receiving “disturbing reports” of regional authorities doing little to provide displaced people with food, shelter and other basic services.

“Individual governorates inside Iraq are becoming overwhelmed by the needs of the displaced,” Pagonis told reporters in Geneva, where UNHCR has its headquarters.

More than half of Iraq’s 18 governorates are preventing displaced people from entering their territories, either by stopping them at checkpoints or by refusing to register them for food aid and other basic services." Read complete post here.

Would-be bomber killed in Baghdad - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

Would-be bomber killed in Baghdad - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com: "BAGHDAD - Alert guards gunned down a black-clad woman at a police recruiting station Tuesday, a would-be suicide bomber who then exploded before their eyes. But another bomber succeeded, killing at least 15 people at a gathering of tribal leaders opposed to al-Qaida in the volatile Anbar province.

The attack in Anbar comes as al-Qaida-linked militants find themselves increasingly engaged in violent battles against more moderate Sunni insurgents. Despite the fighting within sectarian groups, the U.S. commander here acknowledged violence between Sunnis and Shiites is on the rise.

Meanwhile, the U.S. command insisted it would continue the search for two abducted U.S. soldiers despite the release of a video Monday by insurgents linked to al-Qaida claiming they had killed the two, along with a third missing soldier whose body was found previously.

The command’s attitude was reflected in the field.

“It really doesn’t change a thing,” said Capt. Aaron Bright, a 10th Mountain Division company commander whose men have spent many days on the search since the soldiers were seized in an ambush south of Baghdad on May 12. Four other American soldiers and an Iraqi were killed in that attack." Read complete post here.

Ahmadinejad: West can't stop Iran's nukes - Focus on Iran - MSNBC.com

Ahmadinejad: West can't stop Iran's nukes - Focus on Iran - MSNBC.com: "TEHRAN, Iran - Iran’s nuclear program cannot be stopped, and any Western attempt to force a halt to uranium enrichment would be like playing “with the lion’s tail,” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday.

In Berlin, Germany’s foreign minister reported no progress in talks with Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator ahead of the Group of Eight summit. And with the U.N. Security Council preparing to debate a third set of sanctions for Tehran’s refusal to suspend enrichment, Britain raised the possibility of adding curbs on oil and gas investment to the limited measures against individuals and companies involved in Iran’s nuclear and weapons programs.

“We advise them to give up stubbornness and childish games,” Ahmadinejad said at a news conference. “Some say Iran is like a lion. It’s seated quietly in a corner. We advise them not to play with the lion’s tail.”

Added Ahmadinejad: “It is too late to stop the progress of Iran.”

In Washington, State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack responded: “It isn’t.”

“He could make the decision today to take up the reasonable offer to negotiate with the rest of the world,” McCormack said. “The international system is not going to be intimidated by these kinds of threats.”" Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Amnesty seeks Mid-East watchdog

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Amnesty seeks Mid-East watchdog: "A human rights group has called for the creation of an international monitoring body to address human rights violations by Israel and the Palestinians.

Amnesty International says the body must have a mandate to investigate and prosecute offenders.

It also denounced the barrier Israel is building in the West Bank and called on Palestinians to end militant attacks.

The report marks 40 years since the Mid-East war which led to Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

Amnesty's UK director Kate Allen said Israel could not justify its behaviour in the West Bank under security grounds.

'Legitimate security concerns are no excuse for... the mistreatment of thousands of Palestinians in a massive programme of collective punishment,' she said.

In response to the report, Israel's government defended its observance of international law, and Palestinian rights activists said what was needed was a peacekeeping force - not more monitors with no mandate to intervene." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Palestinians agree ceasefire plan

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Palestinians agree ceasefire plan: "The Palestinian government says it has agreed on the terms of a ceasefire proposal it wants to put to Israel to end more than three weeks of violence.

It said all factions in the Hamas-led Cabinet supported the truce - which would have to cover all Palestinian territories, not just the Gaza Strip.

The plan calls for militants in Gaza and the Israeli military to end the cross-border attacks simultaneously.

Israel has previously rejected plans for a West Bank truce.

The Israeli military frequently carries out raids against suspected militants there.

Extensive Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza has killed two Israelis in the last month and retaliatory Israeli military operations have killed about 50 Palestinians, many of them Hamas fighters." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Guantanamo pair's charges dropped

BBC NEWS | Americas | Guantanamo pair's charges dropped: "A US military judge has thrown out charges against two Guantanamo Bay detainees, casting fresh doubt on efforts to try foreign terror suspects.

Both cases collapsed because military authorities had failed to designate the men as 'unlawful' enemy combatants.

In one case a Canadian man, Omar Khadr, was accused of killing a US soldier in Afghanistan with a grenade.

Charges were also dropped against Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni accused of being Osama Bin Laden's driver and bodyguard.

The BBC's James Westhead in Washington says the rulings deal a stunning blow to the Bush administration's attempt to bring its detainees at Guantanamo Bay to trial." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Some Lebanon gunmen 'surrender'

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Some Lebanon gunmen 'surrender': "A commander of the Palestinian Fatah party in Lebanon says seven militants who were fighting the Lebanese army have now surrendered to his group.

Khaled Aref said the Fatah al-Islam members, not connected to the mainstream Fatah, had laid down arms and promised to stay out of fighting.

Clashes broke out at the Nahr al-Bared camp for Palestinian refugees in north Lebanon 16 days ago.

More than 100 people have died in the worst internal feuding in years.

'They surrendered on Monday and Tuesday to Fatah men in the Nahr al-Bared camp,' Mr Aref - Fatah's number two in Lebanon - told reporters.

'We can confirm that men from Fatah al-Islam turned themselves in and handed over their weapons.'" Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Doubt cast on US Iraq 'surge' strategy

BBC NEWS | Americas | Doubt cast on US Iraq 'surge' strategy: "May has been one of the deadliest months on record in Iraq - 10 American soldiers were killed on Memorial Day alone bringing US deaths to a total of 120, the highest since November 2004.

And in one day five Britons were also kidnapped, 44 people died in vehicle bombs in Baghdad and the bodies of 32 men who had been shot and tortured were found in two locations around the capital.

President Bush had warned of the risks of his military build-up or so-called 'surge' in a news conference last week.

'We're going to expect heavy fighting in the weeks and months ahead. We can expect more American and Iraqi casualties,' he said.

But the president must report on the progress of his strategy under the new Iraq War Funding Bill no later than 15 July. And some major policy groups are already doubtful that it can succeed." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Special Reports | Iraq suicide bombing 'kills 15'

BBC NEWS | Special Reports | Iraq suicide bombing 'kills 15': "At least 15 people have been killed in a suicide car bomb attack near the Iraqi city of Falluja, police and the US military said.

At least 13 people were also wounded when the attacker detonated the car bomb in a market place, they said.

The attack came as the US admitted its security 'surge' in and around Baghdad faced serious challenges.

A US security review said coalition forces controlled fewer than one-third of Baghdad's neighbourhoods.

One report said the market bomb in Amiriyah, in Anbar province, targeted elders of the al-Buissa tribe, most of whom are anti-al-Qaeda.

Police told the Associated Press news agency the bomb exploded as the elders met to try to resolve a tribal dispute in the town, 65km (40 miles) west of Baghdad.

In another incident, Iraqi police said they shot dead a suspected suicide bomber as she tried to detonate her bomb at a Baghdad recruitment centre. The shots triggered her explosive belt, police said.

Three police recruits received minor wounds from the explosion. The woman died." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Policemen die in 'rebel' attack

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Policemen die in 'rebel' attack: "Four policemen have been killed in an attack by separatist rebels in India's north-eastern state of Assam.

Assam police official LR Bishnoi told the BBC at least two other policemen were seriously injured in the attack.

He said the rebels fled with the weapons of the dead policemen after the attack in North Cachar on Sunday.

A little known and relatively new rebel group, Karbi Longri North Cachar National Liberation Front, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

This group says it is fighting for a separate homeland for the Karbi tribes people in Assam.

Police said the group carried out a second attack in the same area on early Monday morning, killing two people.

Assam is home to nearly 10 armed rebel groups, some separatist, others fighting for greater autonomy.

Some of these groups have come to settlements with the government, others are negotiating and a few others are fighting." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | 'Casualties' in Sri Lanka clashes

BBC NEWS | South Asia | 'Casualties' in Sri Lanka clashes: "Clashes between troops and Tamil rebels have continued in northern Sri Lanka after fighting at the weekend which the two sides said claimed dozens of lives.

The rebels say they killed at least 30 soldiers in the north, while the army said it had killed more than 50 rebels.

Neither claim could be independently verified. Meanwhile, the Red Cross has urged the authorities to investigate the killing of two of its staff.

Despite a truce on paper, Sri Lanka has been sliding back towards civil war.

More than 4,000 people have been killed in violence in the past 15 months." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Army U-turn on Kashmir holy sites

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Army U-turn on Kashmir holy sites: "India's army has said it will no longer build or renovate Muslim shrines or mosques in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The announcement came after clerics accused troops of interfering in the religious affairs of Muslims.

Army corps commander Lt Gen AS Sekhon told reporters the intention had never been to interfere in religious matters or hurt any community's feelings.

Troops have been fighting militants in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, for 18 years.

India accuses Pakistan of sponsoring the uprising - a charge Islamabad denies." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | 'Taleban killed' in Afghan clash

BBC NEWS | South Asia | 'Taleban killed' in Afghan clash: "US-led forces and Afghan troops have killed an estimated two dozen Taleban militants near the southern city of Kandahar, a coalition statement says.

Troops came under attack in Shah Wali Kot district, it said. The Taleban said none of their fighters were killed but that 27 US and Afghan troops died.

Neither side's claims could be independently verified.

Violence in Afghanistan has returned to levels not seen since the fall of the Taleban regime in 2001.

Some 4,000 people are believed to have died last year in the insurgency - about a quarter of them civilians." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Fourth 'JFK plot' man surrenders

BBC NEWS | Americas | Fourth 'JFK plot' man surrenders: "The fourth man wanted over an alleged plot to blow up New York's JFK airport has surrendered to police in Trinidad and Tobago, officials there say.

Abdel Nur of Guyana turned himself in at a police station at Diego Martin in western Trinidad, police said.

He was the only one of the suspects in the alleged plot still at large.

Two men are already being held in Trinidad fighting moves to extradite them to the US and one man is in custody in New York.

The four men are accused of conspiring to blow up fuel tanks and pipelines serving the airport, one of the world's busiest." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Bush criticises Russia on reform

BBC NEWS | Europe | Bush criticises Russia on reform: "US President George W Bush has criticised Russia for 'derailing' its promised democratic reforms.

Speaking in the Czech Republic, Mr Bush said the US had strong working relations with Russia and China but there were also 'strong disagreements'.

Moscow rejected Mr Bush's criticisms, saying Russia was a democratic nation.

Mr Bush later flew on to Germany for a G8 summit which is in danger of being overshadowed by US-Russia tensions over a US missile defence system.

The summit brings together world leaders from the leading industrial countries for a three-day meeting.

Climate change is expected to be high in the agenda, along with other issues such as globalisation and trade, and poverty in Africa.

Germany and other European governments are pressing for a new treaty to replace the Kyoto agreement - which expires in 2012 - with stricter limits on greenhouse gas emissions." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Jail sentence for ex-Cheney aide

BBC NEWS | Americas | Jail sentence for ex-Cheney aide: "A US judge has sentenced former key White House official Lewis 'Scooter' Libby to 30 months in prison. He remains free pending an appeal hearing.

Libby was found guilty of obstruction of justice and perjury in March over the investigation into the unmasking of CIA officer Valerie Plame.

Libby was the former chief of staff to Vice-President Dick Cheney.

Nobody has ever been charged with the offence of leaking the name of Ms Plame whose husband criticised the Iraq war.

President George W Bush feels 'terrible for the family, especially for his wife and kids,' said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino." Read complete post here.

Israel spurns rocket defense system used by US, UK in Iraq | Jerusalem Post

Israel spurns rocket defense system used by US, UK in Iraq | Jerusalem Post: "While Israel is still years away from developing a Kassam rocket defense system, Great Britain announced last week it is deploying a new antirocket and antimortar cannon in Iraq.

Britain's Ministry of Defense has decided to spend 500 million on new protective equipment for troops stationed in Iraq, according to media reports last week, including a rapid-fire cannon called the C-RAM (Counter-Rocket, Artillery and Mortar) that reportedly has a 70 percent to 80 percent success rate in intercepting incoming shells and rockets.

The first C-RAM, manufactured by Raytheon, was sent to Iraq last year and is used by the Americans to protect the Green Zone in Baghdad. The C-RAM is a variant of the American Vulcan Phalanx, a 20mm cannon designed to defend navy ships from missiles. The cannon is controlled by radar that detects and locks in on incoming enemy projectiles.

While the C-RAM is fully operational and would be available for immediate deployment in, say, Sderot, which has been hit by hundreds of Kassam rockets over the past three weeks, Israel's Defense Ministry has decided not to purchase the system. Instead, it is investing its resources in the 'Iron Dome' - an antirocket missile system under development by the Rafael Armament Development Authority and expected to be operational by 2011.

Uzi Rubin, a missile expert and a former director of the ministry's Homa Missile Defense Agency, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that the C-RAM was capable of providing medium-level protection for places such as Sderot. According to Rubin, four C-RAM systems - at a cost of $15 million a piece - could effectively defend Sderot from Kassam rockets. " Read complete post here.

Return to the forgotten model of autonomy - Haaretz - Israel News

Return to the forgotten model of autonomy - Haaretz - Israel News: "Contrary to many of Sderot's residents, who have been spending as many weekends as possible outside their city under fire, approximately 1,000 members of the religious Zionist community made their way in the opposite direction Friday: They came from all over the country to spend Shabbat in Sderot, in support of the residents. Most were young people, who are by nature braver and more mobile. This included members of the Bnei Akiva youth movement, students from pre-army mekhinot (courses that combine Jewish studies with military preparation) and hesder yeshivas (which combine yeshiva studies with military service). Several dozen families heeded the call as well.

The initiative was brought to life by Tzalash (the Hebrew acronym for 'Zionism in the Service of Sderot'), a project of the Orot Hesed nongovernmental organization, headed by former MK Hanan Porat. Porat founded the NGO eight years ago, in the wake of criticism that religious Zionism focuses exclusively on issues related to Greater Israel and neglects social issues. Consequently, Orot Hesed deals mainly with distributing food packages to the needy." Read complete post here.

Germany's Jews call PM not to promote immigration to Israel - Haaretz - Israel News

Germany's Jews call PM not to promote immigration to Israel - Haaretz - Israel News: "The leaders of Germany's Jewish community have warned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert they would request the German government's help in preventing Israel from encouraging Jews settled in Germany to immigrate to Israel.

Stephan J. Kramer, who heads the Central Council of Jews in Germany, sent the warning following Israel's decision last week to extend the jurisdiction of Nativ , the government body in charge of promoting immigration from the Former Soviet Union to Israel. Nativ and the Jewish Agency will cooperate in running ulpans (Hebrew courses) and other educational programs in Germany, which is home to some 200,000 Russian-speaking Jews who moved there from the Former Soviet Union in recent years." Read complete post here.

Mass rally to call for rebuiding of Homesh settlement in W. Bank - Haaretz - Israel News

Mass rally to call for rebuiding of Homesh settlement in W. Bank - Haaretz - Israel News: "Right-wing activists and settlers plan to hold a mass rally next week with the army's permission in Homesh - the site of a former West Bank settlement. The Yesha Council has taken the unusual step of calling for the rebuilding of evacuated settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.

The Yesha Council, representing municipal councils of Jewish communities in the West Bank, was also one of the parties that requested the Israel Defense Forces' permission for the rally, which will include Homesh First - a movement of evicted settlers.

The Yesha Council had previously refrained from participating in the events organized by Homesh First, which is considered to oppose the council's policies." Read complete post here.

Charles Taylor's trial for murder, rape and slavery begins in Hague - Independent Online Edition > Africa

Charles Taylor's trial for murder, rape and slavery begins in Hague - Independent Online Edition > Africa: "The former child soldiers of Sierra Leone will be rivetted to their radios this morning as the war crimes trial begins in The Hague of one of the most-feared men in Africa, the former Liberian president Charles Taylor.

Mr Taylor faces 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for allegedly backing the Revolutionary United Front, a rebel group that killed, maimed and raped thousands of Sierra Leoneans during a war that lasted 11 years and ended in 2002 after British military intervention.

The RUF was notorious for its mass recruitment of child soldiers who were trained to cut off their victims' limbs with machetes. Mr Taylor is being tried in The Hague by the Special Court for Sierra Leone because both the Liberian and Sierra Leonean governments fear that a court case in west Africa might create instability by rousing Mr Taylor's supporters, many of whom are unruly former child soldiers." Read complete post here.

The Tortured Lives of Interrogators - washingtonpost.com

The Tortured Lives of Interrogators - washingtonpost.com: "CHICAGO -- The American interrogator was afraid. Of what and why, he couldn't say. He was riding the L train in Chicago, and his throat was closing.

In Iraq, when Tony Lagouranis interrogated suspects, fear was his friend, his weapon. He saw it seep, dark and shameful, through the crotch of a man's pants as a dog closed in, barking. He smelled it in prisoners' sweat, a smoky odor, like a pot of lentils burning. He had touched fear, too, felt it in their fingers, their chilled skin trembling.

But on this evening, Lagouranis was back in Illinois, taking the train to a bar. His girlfriend thought he was a hero. His best friend hung out with him, watching reruns of 'Hawaii Five-O.' And yet he felt afraid.

'I tortured people,' said Lagouranis, 37, who was a military intelligence specialist in Iraq from January 2004 until January 2005. 'You have to twist your mind up so much to justify doing that.'

Being an interrogator, Lagouranis discovered, can be torture. At first, he was eager to try coercive techniques. In training at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., instructors stressed the Geneva Conventions, he recalled, while classmates privately admired Israeli and British methods. 'The British were tough,' Lagouranis said. 'They seemed like real interrogators.'

But interrogators for countries that pride themselves on adhering to the rule of law, such as Britain, the United States and Israel, operate in a moral war zone. They are on the front lines in fighting terrorism, crucial for intelligence-gathering. Yet they use methods that conflict with their societies' values." Read complete post here.

Radicals Hit Lebanese Army From Second Refugee Camp - washingtonpost.com

Radicals Hit Lebanese Army From Second Refugee Camp - washingtonpost.com: "EIN AL-HILWEH, Lebanon, June 3 -- Islamic radicals attacked Lebanon's army from a second Palestinian refugee camp Sunday, sending residents fleeing through gun and rocket fire and heightening fears that the country faces a gravely destabilizing offensive by the militant groups that hide out in the country's 12 crowded camps.

Sunday's clash occurred near the southern city of Sidon on the outskirts of Ein al-Hilweh, the country's largest camp, with at least 45,000 inhabitants." Read complete post here.

Putin warns he will point missiles at Europe | International | Reuters

Putin warns he will point missiles at Europe | International | Reuters: "MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said Russia would go back to its Cold War stance of aiming its missiles at Europe if Washington went ahead with a plan to build a missile defence shield near Russia's borders.

In an interview released late on Sunday, Putin acknowledged that Russia's response risked reviving an arms race in Europe but said Moscow would not be responsible for the consequences because Washington had started the escalation.

Putin made the tough statement before what is likely to be a frosty Group of Eight summit in Germany on June 6 where, among other world leaders, he will come face to face with U.S. President George W. Bush." Read complete post here.

Lebanon army battles militants | International | Reuters

Lebanon army battles militants | International | Reuters: "NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (Reuters) - Lebanese troops fought al Qaeda-inspired militants at a Palestinian refugee camp and clashed with Islamists early on Monday as a 16-day conflict threatened to plunge Lebanon into long-term instability.

Security sources said one Lebanese soldier was killed and two were wounded in clashes after midnight with Jund al-Sham gunmen at the northern entrance of Ain al-Hilweh, Lebanon's largest refugee camp, some 42 km (27 miles) south of Beirut.

The two-hour clash involving assault rifles, heavy machine guns, grenades and mortar bombs followed an earlier fight on Sunday which ended after mediation efforts by other Palestinian factions. Three soldiers and two civilians were wounded in the earlier firefight, started by the gunmen." Read complete post here.

Chopper crash kills 22 in Sierra Leone | U.S. | Reuters

Chopper crash kills 22 in Sierra Leone | U.S. | Reuters: "FREETOWN (Reuters) - Twenty-two people, most of them Togolese sports officials, were killed when a passenger helicopter exploded and crashed on Sunday at Sierra Leone's main international airport, aviation officials said.

The Russian pilot of the Russian-made Mi-8 helicopter survived the crash. The helicopter was operated by Paramount Airlines, which shuttles passengers between Sierra Leone's coastal capital Freetown and Lungi airport.

The helicopter was carrying a delegation of Togolese sports officials who had earlier attended an African Nations Cup soccer qualifying game played in Freetown between Sierra Leone and Togo. Togo won 1-0." Read complete post here.

U.S. forces face bloody start to June in Iraq | U.S. | Reuters

U.S. forces face bloody start to June in Iraq | U.S. | Reuters: "BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Sixteen American troops died in Iraq in the first three days of June, marking a bloody start to the month as the U.S. military presses on with its crackdown on sectarian violence in Baghdad.

A total of 127 American troops died in May, the third worst total for U.S. forces since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Fourteen of the latest deaths were reported on Sunday alone by the U.S. military.

North of the capital, a suicide car bomber attacked a police convoy in volatile Diyala province, killing 10 people in a busy market area and wounding 30 others, the local police chief said." Read complete post here.

Mortar barrage kills 8 in Baghdad - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

Mortar barrage kills 8 in Baghdad - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com: "BAGHDAD - A series of mortar barrages killed eight civilians and wounded 25 others early Saturday in a Sunni enclave surrounded by Shiite areas in central Baghdad, police said, while a key bridge was damaged by a bomb in northern Iraq.

The mortars began slamming into the Fadhil area in Baghdad at 1:30 a.m. and continued sporadically until 7 a.m., damaging five houses, a policeman said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to deal with the media. A woman and a child were among the eight dead, he said.

Baghdad’s Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods frequently exchange mortar and other fire in Iraq’s continuing sectarian conflict.

Elsewhere in the capital, residents in the Sunni neighborhood of Amariyah remained under curfew as U.S. and Iraqi troops sought to maintain calm in the area after fierce clashes between rival insurgent groups and al-Qaida in Iraq.

Firas al-Azzawi, a 32-year-old father of two, said he closed his electronics shop when the clashes began earlier this week. He said people were converging on the few stores that were open to buy food, including one grocer who brought in fresh vegetables by loading them in handcarts.

He said the grocer was rationing how much he sold “because there was not enough for everyone who were waiting in a line to buy.”" Read complete post here.

Military reports 14 U.S. deaths during weekend - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

Military reports 14 U.S. deaths during weekend - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com: "BAGHDAD - Fourteen American soldiers were killed in three deadly days in Iraq, the U.S. military said Sunday, including four in a single roadside bombing and one who was struck by a suicide bomber while on a foot patrol southwest of the capital.

The blast that killed the four soldiers occurred Sunday as the troops were conducting a cordon and search operation northwest of the Iraqi capital, according to a statement. Two other soldiers from Multi-National Division — Baghdad were killed and five were wounded along with an Iraqi interpreter in two separate roadside bombings on Sunday, the military said.

One soldier was killed Friday after the patrol approached two suspicious men for questioning near a mosque, and one of the suspects blew himself up, according to a statement. The military did not provide more details.

Seven others troops were killed in a series of attacks across Iraq on Saturday.

The deaths raised to at least 3,493 members of the U.S. military who have died since the war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Also Sunday, as U.S. jets roared overhead, Mahdi Army militiamen battled with Iraqi troops and local police searching for two militia leaders in the southern city of Diwaniyah. At least three people were killed and 24 wounded, official Iraqi sources reported." Read complete post here.

Helicopter crashes in Sierra Leone - Africa - MSNBC.com

Helicopter crashes in Sierra Leone - Africa - MSNBC.com: "FREETOWN, Sierra Leone - A helicopter ferrying passengers to Sierra Leone’s main airport crashed late Sunday, bursting into flames and killing at least 20 people, local radio stations and a witness at the airport said.

One station, Kalleone FM, said 22 people died, including a pilot who jumped from the helicopter as it crashed at the airport. A witness at the airport, who asked not to be identified, confirmed the crash and said its two pilots both jumped out. One survived and was hospitalized.

The witness said the helicopter burst into flames upon crashing. It was destroyed before airport firefighters could put out the flames.

Helicopters and a sea ferry are the only ways to get to the airport, located across a bay from the capital, Freetown, which is on the Atlantic Ocean.

In 2001, a U.N. helicopter traveling from U.N. headquarters in Sierra Leone to the airport crashed into the bay, killing all seven aboard. The U.N. said at the time a mechanical problem appeared to have been the cause." Read complete post here.

China quake kills 3, injures about 300 - Asia-Pacific - MSNBC.com

China quake kills 3, injures about 300 - Asia-Pacific - MSNBC.com: "BEIJING - A strong earthquake shook southwest China’s Yunnan province early Sunday, killing at least three and injuring hundreds and forcing the evacuation of 120,000 people, state media reported.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 and hit about 1,470 miles southwest of Beijing.

At least three people died and more than 290 were injured, 15 seriously, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. One of the dead was a 5-year-old boy, who was crushed by debris, state television reported. The boy’s parents were also trapped but were rescued by locals.

The local seismological bureau had recorded 233 aftershocks by 2 p.m., the strongest with a magnitude of 5.1, said an official with the bureau, who gave only his surname, Ma." Read complete post here.

Three days of fighting in Lebanon camp - Mideast/N. Africa - MSNBC.com

Three days of fighting in Lebanon camp - Mideast/N. Africa - MSNBC.com: "TRIPOLI, Lebanon - Lebanon’s army pounded Islamic militants hiding in a bombed-out Palestinian refugee camp Sunday for the third straight day, while fighting erupted outside another camp in the south, stoking fears violence could be spreading throughout the country.

Fierce fighting has engulfed the outskirts of the Nahr el-Bared camp in northern Lebanon since Friday, when the Lebanese army — using tanks and artillery — launched an offensive to drive the Fatah Islam militants from their positions inside the settlement.

But they have faced strong resistance and the relentless bombardments threaten to anger Palestinians in the country’s other refugee camps, possibly causing violence to spread.

Near the southern city of Sidon, suspected members of the militant Islamic group Jund al-Sham fired a rocket-propelled-grenade at a Lebanese army checkpoint outside a camp Sunday, wounding at least five people, security officials said on customary condition of anonymity." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Gaza boys 'shot dead by Israelis'

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Gaza boys 'shot dead by Israelis': "Two Palestinian boys have been shot dead by Israeli troops in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources say.

The children were estimated to be between eight and 13 years old. They have not yet been identified.

An Israeli army spokesman said the army had shot at several Palestinians near the Gaza-Israel border fence.

He said they were crawling towards the fence near Beit Lahiya, 'did not heed repeated calls to stop and planted a suspicious device close to the fence'.

A separate spokeswoman said: 'We identified hitting three. One was lightly injured and was taken to hospital inside Israel.'

The other two were evacuated by Palestinian ambulance workers, but died.

Medical staff at a Gaza hospital said they had been hit in the chest.

They said the children had reportedly been scouring the area near the border fence for scrap metal, Reuters reported." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | 'Mis-timed' bomb kills 10 Iraqis

BBC NEWS | Middle East | 'Mis-timed' bomb kills 10 Iraqis: "At least 10 people have been killed by a parked car bomb in an open-air market north-east of Baghdad, in an attack police said was aimed at them.

More then two dozen others were wounded in the blast at Balad Ruz market, which was packed with shoppers.

The attack was aimed at a passing patrol, police said, but nearly all the victims were civilians.

In the same Diyala province, insurgents opened fire on minibus passengers, killing five people, police said.

Diyala is one of the most violent provinces in Iraq. It is mainly Sunni, but also has significant Shia and Kurdish populations.

Balad Ruz is a Shia enclave, and has been the target before of attacks blamed on al-Qaeda-linked Sunni insurgents.

At least 26 people died there on 7 March when a cafe was blown apart by a bomb.

US commanders have sent thousands of extra troops to Diyala in an attempt to quell the violence there." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Palestinians killed in West Bank

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Palestinians killed in West Bank: "Two Palestinian men have been killed by Israeli troops in separate incidents in Nablus and Jenin in the West Bank.

The Israeli military said troops shot a gunman in a raid in Nablus. Witnesses said the man, 26, was a shopkeeper, and that his brother was also wounded.

In Jenin, a young militant was killed in an exchange of fire, the Israeli military said.

Palestinian militants Hamas later fired eight mortar rounds at the Erez border crossing, wounding four soldiers." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Fourteen US troops killed in Iraq

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Fourteen US troops killed in Iraq: "Fourteen US soldiers have been killed in the last three days in Iraq, mainly in roadside bombings, the US military has said.

Four soldiers died in a single blast during search operations north-west of Baghdad on Sunday, the military said.

On the same day, two US soldiers were killed and five wounded in two separate roadside blasts.

In May, 127 US soldiers were killed in Iraq, the deadliest month for US forces since November 2004." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Sri Lanka Red Cross staff killed

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Sri Lanka Red Cross staff killed: "Two Sri Lankan Red Cross volunteers who had been abducted in the capital, Colombo, have been shot dead, the aid group has said.

The bodies of the two men were found in Ratnapura district, about 100km (60 miles) south-east of Colombo.

The aid workers had been abducted by gunmen claiming to be police." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | US-India nuclear deal talks fail

BBC NEWS | South Asia | US-India nuclear deal talks fail: "The US and India have failed to resolve differences over a proposed landmark deal on nuclear co-operation after three days of negotiations in Delhi.

Indian Foreign Minister Shiv Shankar Menon said the two sides had made considerable progress, but that there were still gaps to be covered.

Under the deal, India would get access to US civilian nuclear technology if it opens its facilities to inspection.

Critics say the accord will encourage India to develop its nuclear arsenal.

They also say it sends the wrong message to countries like Iran, whose nuclear ambitions Washington opposes.

India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Fighting at second Lebanon camp

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Fighting at second Lebanon camp: "Fighting has broken out between soldiers and Islamist militants at a second Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, security officials say.

The violence in the Ain al-Hilweh camp, near the southern city of Sidon, is said to involve Jund al-Sham militants.

Two people - a soldier and a civilian - were injured when suspected militants fired a grenade at an army checkpoint.

It is not clear if the violence is linked to the fighting at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in the north.

Army troops at the Ain al-Hilweh camp responded to the rocket propelled grenade attack with gunfire, witnesses said.

The mayor of Sidon, Abdul Rahman Bizri, told the BBC that the fighting had involved just a small number of extremists and that it had now been contained.

'We were able, with the help of the Palestinian organisations and with the help of larger Islamic groups in the camp, to subdue their activity and contain any action from getting even larger,' he said." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Liberia war crimes trial to begin

BBC NEWS | Africa | Liberia war crimes trial to begin: "The former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor, is due to go on trial for war crimes in The Hague on Monday.

He has been accused of supporting rebels in Sierra Leone, who conducted an 11-year campaign in which thousands of civilians were killed or maimed.

The trial is being conducted by the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone and has been moved away from West Africa for security reasons.

It is the first time a former African head of state has faced such a trial.

The trial is expected to last for a year to 18 months, and the UK has offered to imprison Mr Taylor if he is convicted." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Sierra Leone air crash kills 20

BBC NEWS | Africa | Sierra Leone air crash kills 20: "A helicopter ferrying passengers to Freetown airport in Sierra Leone has crashed, killing at least 20 people.

The 19 passengers were reportedly from Togo and were returning from watching an international football match.

The two pilots came from Ukraine. They reportedly jumped out of the craft as it was approaching the airport, but only one survived.

Helicopters and ferries are the only way to reach the airport, which is located across a bay from Freetown.

The passengers had been watching Togo beat Sierra Leone 1-0 an African Nations Cup qualifier, and had chartered the helicopter for the seven-minute flight from the city to the airport." Read complete post here.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Bomb attack on Somali PM's house

BBC NEWS | Africa | Bomb attack on Somali PM's house: "A suicide bomber has used a vehicle packed with explosives to attack the Somali interim prime minister's residence in the capital, Mogadishu.

At least six people died and 10 were injured - most of them bodyguards.

Speaking to the BBC, Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi described the blast as huge, saying it had blown in all the windows but left him unhurt.

Mr Ghedi later said it had been 'an al-Qaeda masterminded terrorist attack' aimed at destabilising the country.

'The terrorists wanted to discourage the government and Somali nation, but they will never succeed,' Mr Ghedi said." Read complete post here.

In Clash With Marines, Reservists Gain Ally in VFW - washingtonpost.com

In Clash With Marines, Reservists Gain Ally in VFW - washingtonpost.com: "The national commander of the proud, patriotic, 2.4 million strong Veterans of Foreign Wars (motto: 'Honor the dead by helping the living') took one look at the mushrooming dispute between three antiwar Marine reservists and the U.S. Marine Corps, and knew where his sympathies lay: with the protesters.

'What the Marine Corps is trying to do is hush up and punish these individuals who served our country,' Gary Kurpius, the national commander, said in a telephone interview. 'All they're doing is exercising the same democratic voice we're trying to instill over in Iraq right now.'

The Marines have accused the three reservists, all members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, of wearing their uniforms during political protests and making 'disrespectful' or 'disloyal' statements. All three were honorably discharged from active duty, but now face 'other than honorable' discharges from the inactive reserve, which could affect future employment and veterans benefits.

The VFW issued a blistering statement on the controversy yesterday. Headline: 'VFW to Corps: Don't Stifle Freedom of Speech.'" Read complete post here.

U.S. Warship Bombards Somalia Militants | World Latest | Guardian Unlimited

U.S. Warship Bombards Somalia Militants | World Latest | Guardian Unlimited: "MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - A U.S. warship pounded Somalia's remote coastal northeast, targeting Islamic militants hours after a gunbattle with Somali government forces that left eight insurgents dead, officials said Saturday.

The fighting late Friday, which the provincial government said included an American militant, appeared to mark the opening of a new front against Islamic militants in Puntland, a semiautonomous region that has remained relatively peaceful through Somalia's anarchy.

The government declared victory in April against insurgents in the Somali capital, which is in the south. Since then officials of the government and Ethiopian troops sent to prop it up have been targeted in bomb attacks.

``The insurgency appears to be spreading to other parts of Somalia,'' said Ted Dagne, specialist in African Affairs at the Congressional Research Service in Washington." Read complete post here.

Authorities Charge 4 in NYC Terror Plot | World Latest | Guardian Unlimited

Authorities Charge 4 in NYC Terror Plot | World Latest | Guardian Unlimited: "NEW YORK (AP) - Federal authorities announced Saturday they had broken up a suspected Muslim terrorist cell planning a ``chilling'' attack to destroy John F. Kennedy International Airport, kill thousands of people and trigger an economic catastrophe by blowing up a jet fuel artery that runs through populous residential neighborhoods.

Three men, one of them a former member of Guyana's parliament, were arrested and one was being sought in Trinidad as part of a plot that authorities said they had been tracking for more than a year and was foiled in the planning stages.

``The devastation that would be caused had this plot succeeded is just unthinkable,'' U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf said at a news conference, calling it ``one of the most chilling plots imaginable.''

In an indictment charging the four men, one of them is quoted as saying the foiled plot would ``cause greater destruction than in the Sept. 11 attacks,'' destroying the airport, killing several thousand people and destroying parts of New York's borough of Queens, where the pipeline runs underground." Read complete post here.

Lebanese troops move in for the kill | World | The Observer

Lebanese troops move in for the kill | World | The Observer: "A new emboldened Beirut government is forcing an end to a 10-day stand-off as negotiations fail

Lebanese troops pushing ever farther into a besieged Palestinian refugee camp vowed to kill any members of the al-Qaeda-linked Fatah al-Islam group inside who did not surrender.

Lebanese officers on the scene said they would continue the assault until all of the militant jihadists were dead, and warned that any civilians who remained in the camp after last week's evacuation would be considered combatants.

The threats came as a Gazelle helicopter fired missiles yesterday and strafed buildings. 'There is no way we will give up our weapons because it is our pride. We cannot even contemplate surrendering,' Abu Salim Taha, a spokesman for the militants, said by telephone from the Nahr al-Bared camp. Those inside reported dire conditions. ' More than 60 per cent of the camp has been destroyed,' Abu Darwish, a resident, said." Read complete post here.

Bush intends to give $18.8m. to Palestinians | Jerusalem Post

Bush intends to give $18.8m. to Palestinians | Jerusalem Post: "US President George W. Bush gave notice Friday that he intends to send $18.8 million in aid to help the security of the office of the Palestinian Authority chairman, as well as the Palestinian economy, humanitarian concerns and democratization efforts.

The funds were part of a $468 million Palestinian assistance package initially put forth in July, but soon after that a law came into effect requiring more stringent reviews of money sent to Palestinians in light of the election last year of Hamas.

Under the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act, the State Department now has to consult with Congress and the administration must certify that no part of the funding could end up in the hands of Hamas, designated by the US as a terrorist entity.

'No significant objections were raised in the course of State's consultations with Congress,' a White House official told The Jerusalem Post. Staff on foreign aid appropriations committees couldn't immediately confirm the statement after it was made late Friday afternoon." Read complete post here.

UAE gives $80 million to Palestinians | Jerusalem Post

UAE gives $80 million to Palestinians | Jerusalem Post: "The United Arab Emirates has transferred $80 million (€59 million) in aid to the Palestinians, using a new account controlled by Finance Minister Salam Fayyad, officials said Saturday.

Fayyad, an independent, set up the account in the name of the PLO, the Palestinians' political umbrella group. Hamas is not part of the PLO, thus allowing banks to transfer aid money without running afoul of US anti-terror regulations.

Hamas and the Fatah movement of moderate Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas formed a coalition in March, with the goal of ending a foreign aid boycott imposed when Hamas first came to power more than a year ago.

However, many countries have said they would not resume direct aid payments to the Palestinian government, because Hamas refuses to renounce violence and recognize Israel." Read complete post here.

'Empowered women could combat Islamic extremism' | Jerusalem Post

'Empowered women could combat Islamic extremism' | Jerusalem Post: "Empowering Arab women would help prevent increased radicalism within Muslim society in Israel and the Middle East, according to Ephraim Halevy, a former head of the Mossad and the National Security Council.

'If women are truly empowered in politics and society and are thus allowed to become a major social force in the work place and within the family, the direction of the future of the Middle East will be much different than it is today,' said Halevy,

He was speaking at a conference on the empowerment of Arab women at the Hebrew University's Shasha Center for Strategic and Policy Studies, which he now heads.

Halevy said it was important to empower Arab women because their increasingly dire economic situation exacerbated the growing radicalism within Muslim society.

'I am of the opinion,' said Halevy, 'that women's empowerment in Arab society is a key factor in determining the future of the Middle East.'" Read complete post here.

Reporter's notebook: Egypt's greatest fear: New Israeli immigrants | Jerusalem Post

Reporter's notebook: Egypt's greatest fear: New Israeli immigrants | Jerusalem Post: "The warm smile, anecdotal stories and freshly-squeezed lemonade almost make me miss the fact that I have just been told I am more dangerous than Iran's nuclear program.

It's a startling idea for a petite Jewish woman like myself, who has traveled briefly to this large Arab country from Israel, where doomsday headlines about Iran are printed on an almost daily basis. But it's not unusual on the street in Cairo, where a pop song, 'I Hate Israel,' can be heard blaring from car radios amid the constant honking of their horns.

Sitting in his Cairo office, veteran Egyptian diplomat Gamal Bayoumi dismisses with a wave of his hand the popular Israeli political belief that among moderate Muslim Arabs like himself, a nuclear Iran is fast replacing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the destabilizing force in the region.

'Be serious. Iran is a threat to me?' he says with an incredulous look on his face. Then, almost nonchalantly, he looks straight at me from across his desk and remarks that he is more worried about the influx into Israel of new immigrants like myself.

'Do you think you [Israel] can adopt all the Jews in the world? Then you will need more land, and that is what is frightening us, more than the nuclear weapons of Iran." Read complete post here.

Hamas says it may consider a one-year truce with Israel | Jerusalem Post

Hamas says it may consider a one-year truce with Israel | Jerusalem Post: "Hamas may consider a one-year cease-fire with Israel, the organization's deputy political leader said in an interview published Saturday in an Egyptian newspaper.

Khaled Mashaal's political deputy, Moussa Abu Marzouk, was one of several senior Hamas leaders who were in Cairo over the past week for talks with Egyptian officials on ways to calm Palestinian infighting and ongoing fighting with Israel.

'We may agree to a one-year cease-fire,' Abu Marzouk was quoted as saying in an interview with the state-owned daily Al-Ahram.' Both parties have to abide by it.'" Read complete post here.

'Shin Bet involved in 1976 hijacking' | Jerusalem Post

'Shin Bet involved in 1976 hijacking' | Jerusalem Post: "The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) may have been involved in the hijacking of an Air France plane in 1976 by Palestinian terrorists, according to newly declassified British government documents released Friday.

Some 100 passengers were held by hijackers at Entebbe airport in Uganda during an eight-day ordeal that concluded when General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (Sayeret Matkal) troops stormed the building where the captives were held.

Twenty-four people died in the shoot-out, including three hostages, 20 Ugandans and the commander of the rescue team, Yoni Netanyahu, brother of current opposition head Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud).

The hijackers, from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the German Baader-Meinhof gang, demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners.

But according to the newly released documents, the Shin Bet and the PFLP are alleged to have teamed up in an 'unholy alliance' in an attempt to change foreign policy in the Middle East." Read complete post here.

IDF training exercise sparks fire, damages future nature reserve - Haaretz - Israel News

IDF training exercise sparks fire, damages future nature reserve - Haaretz - Israel News: "A Lachish-region area designated to become a nature reserve sustained major damage after an army training exercise ignited a fire there last week.

A total of 25,000 dunams were damaged. This is twice the area damaged in the Shaar Hagay blaze a decade ago, and nearly equal to the total amount of land burnt in the Galilee during the Second Lebanon War.

The fire consumed large areas of natural woodland that contained low bushes and annuals.

The army has extensive training grounds in the Lachish region and in Beit Govrin. Conservation officials claim training exercises spark several devastating fires every summer." Read complete post here.

U.S. Defense Sec.: Stronger penalties against Iran needed 'right now' - Haaretz - Israel News

U.S. Defense Sec.: Stronger penalties against Iran needed 'right now' - Haaretz - Israel News: "Stronger penalties are needed against Iran not next year or the year after, but right now because of the uncertainty over how soon Tehran may acquire a nuclear weapon, U.S. President George W. Bush's defense secretary said in Singapore Saturday.

Pentagon chief Robert Gates did not rule out military action to stop Iran's program, though he said it was an unattractive option.

'Uncertainty about Tehran's nuclear work does put a premium on unanimity in the international community - especially in the UN Security Council - in terms of ratcheting up the pressure on the Iranians, not next year or the year after but right now,' he said." Read complete post here.

IDF kills Fatah man near Jenin, says head of terror liason cell - Haaretz - Israel News

IDF kills Fatah man near Jenin, says head of terror liason cell - Haaretz - Israel News: "Israel Defense Forces troops killed a Fatah militant early Sunday during a raid in a refugee camp near the West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian and IDF sources said.

The militant was identified as Mohammed Amin Farahati, 22, a member of Fatah's military wing.

The IDF said soldiers had killed a militant in an exchange of fire. They said Farahati commanded a cell responsible for liaisons between Islamic Jihad and Fatah's military wing.

The IDF also said troops found an M16 assault rifle close to Farahati's body." Read complete post here.

Hamas rejects Abbas plan for Gaza-first cease-fire - Haaretz - Israel News

Hamas rejects Abbas plan for Gaza-first cease-fire - Haaretz - Israel News: "Hamas' delegation to Egypt has rejected the draft of an initiative for a cease-fire between the Islamist organization and Israel, saying it must apply to the West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip.

Israel, meanwhile, killed five Palestinians over the weekend. The northern Negev was hit by six Qassam rockets fired from the Strip, causing no casualties.

During talks in Cairo, the members of the delegation - headed by Hamas deputy political leader Moussa Abu Marzouk - said they could not accept the current draft of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' 10-point cease-fire initiative.

According to the proposal, Hamas must first halt the firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel before the armistice is applied in the West Bank.

Hamas' Gaza spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, told Haaretz that Hamas informed the parties in Cairo that it will not agree to a distinction between the West Bank and the Strip. 'We've had a bad experience with the occupation. We will agree only to a total cease-fire both in the West Bank and the Strip.'" Read complete post here.

Great escape: survivors reveal horror of North Korean concentration camps - Independent Online Edition > Asia

Great escape: survivors reveal horror of North Korean concentration camps - Independent Online Edition > Asia: "Two survivors of a North Korean concentration camp have spoken out about the grim conditions in the gulag where inmates are left to die in tiny cells, in the latest accounts to shed light on the human rights atrocities carried out in the world's most isolated country.

A 27-year-old North Korean, Kim Eun Chul, was one of a group of seven fleeing their country in 1999 who were intercepted in Russia after they scrambled through barbed wire on the border with China.

The Russians sent them back to China despite a UN decision to grant them refugee status. China, which remains North Korea's staunchest ally, allowed the seven to be handed back to North Korea which subsequently informed the UN that the majority had been returned to their homes and factory jobs.

But it was a lie. Instead, they faced torture and imprisonment for 'betraying their homeland' by trying to flee the famine-hit North Korean 'socialist paradise' in search of food. least five of the seven were dispatched to North Korea's Camp Number 15, known as Yodok in the West, where inmates labour 15 hours or more a day on meagre rations for such deeds as criticising the government or trying to escape because of famine, Mr Kim told the International Herald Tribune." Read complete post here.

The security industry: Britain's private army in Iraq - Independent Online Edition > Middle East

The security industry: Britain's private army in Iraq - Independent Online Edition > Middle East: "The British security guards taken hostage in Baghdad are just four among a foreign legion paid for by you. Yet as we grow more reliant on them, their future is perilous in a country without rules. By Andrew Johnson, Marie Woolf and Raymond Whitaker

Baghdad is a city where there is no safety and no law, but the five Britons - a computer consultant and his four-man security detail - would have been entitled to feel relatively secure inside the Finance Ministry.

The building was heavily guarded by uniformed Iraqi police and paramilitaries. It was a Tuesday morning, and Palestine Street was busy, with more people venturing out since the US-led security 'surge' damped down the violence in the centre of the Iraqi capital.

Yet in broad daylight, a convoy of vehicles with up to 40 men, some in the camouflage uniforms of special police commandos, was able to drive up to the ministry and pass through the gate. The men headed straight for where the Britons were working, took them without a struggle and drove off. Even by the standards of the most dangerous city in the world, it was an especially brazen kidnapping. Nothing has been heard of the victims since." Read complete post here.

Moqtada al-Sadr: The man America has in its sights - Independent Online Edition > World Politics

Moqtada al-Sadr: The man America has in its sights - Independent Online Edition > World Politics: "The US wants to talk to Moqtada al-Sadr. He thinks they want to assassinate him. In this rare interview in Kufa, Iraq, the Shia cleric tells Nizar Latif why

Moqtada al-Sadr, the man Washington blames for its failure to gain control in Iraq, has rejected a call to open direct talks with the US military and has accused the Americans of plotting to assassinate him.

The Shia cleric told The Independent on Sunday in an exclusive interview: 'The Americans have tried to kill me in the past, but have failed... It is certain that the Americans still want me dead and are still trying to assassinate me.

'I am an Iraqi, I am a Muslim, I am free and I reject all forms of occupation. I want to help the Iraqi people. This is everything the Americans hate.'

Mr Sadr, revered by millions of Iraqi Shias, spoke after leading Friday prayers in the Grand Mosque at Kufa, just over 100 miles south of Baghdad. It is one of the four Iraqi cities considered holy in Shia Islam. He always wears a black turban, the traditional symbol of a Shia cleric who can trace his ancestry to the Prophet Mohamed. But for the second time in two weeks, he also wore a white shroud - a symbol of his willingness to be martyred, and his belief that death is close at hand." Read complete post here.

60 Killed as Boat Said to Be Carrying Taliban Fighters Sinks - New York Times

60 Killed as Boat Said to Be Carrying Taliban Fighters Sinks - New York Times: "KABUL, Afghanistan, June 2 (AP) — A boat crossing a river in southern Afghanistan sank on Saturday, and at least 60 people were killed, including Taliban militants, the Defense Ministry said.

The boat sank while crossing the Helmand River, which snakes through Helmand Province, the world’s leading opium poppy region and the site of fierce battles over the past several months. The Afghan Army was investigating to see how many Taliban insurgents and how many civilians were on board, the ministry said.

In Ghazni Province, in southeastern Afghanistan, people suspected to be Taliban militants attacked a local police commander’s home, killing five family members and sparking a gun battle with the police that left 10 insurgents dead, an official said.

The commander’s wife, two sons and two nephews were killed in the attack, Zemeri Bashary, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said. People attending a pro-Taliban rally in Pakistan said an audiotape was played there in which a man described as the Taliban’s new top field commander vowed to drive out United States forces and free Afghanistan from “American slavery.” The new commander was identified as Dadullah Mansoor, the brother of Mullah Dadullah, the former field commander who was killed in an American operation last month." Read complete post here.

4 More Hostages Taken in Nigeria; Rebels Seek Talks - New York Times

4 More Hostages Taken in Nigeria; Rebels Seek Talks - New York Times: "DAKAR, Senegal, June 2 — A militant group in Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta said Saturday that it would temporarily cease its campaign of pipeline attacks, bombings and kidnappings to allow for a negotiated settlement of its grievances with the newly elected government.

The announcement by the group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, was made a day after four foreign oil workers were kidnapped from the office of an oil services firm in Port Harcourt, the center of the country’s oil industry, in a brazen attack by men dressed in police uniforms.

The kidnapped men, who were abducted Friday evening, were Dutch, Pakistani, British and French, according to their employer, Schlumberger, the international oilfield services company." Read complete post here.

Palestinian Militant Is Killed as the Air Fire Over Gaza Declines - New York Times

Palestinian Militant Is Killed as the Air Fire Over Gaza Declines - New York Times: "JERUSALEM, June 2 — A field commander from the Palestinian militant faction Islamic Jihad was killed in an Israeli air attack on his vehicle in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Friday night, army officials and Islamic Jihad said.

On Saturday morning, Islamic Jihad and the Fatah-affiliated Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for firing a rocket from Gaza at the Israeli border town of Sderot, causing damage to houses but no injuries.

In general, though, hostilities between Gaza and Israel seemed to have wound down in the past few days after two weeks of intensive Israeli airstrikes and Palestinian rocket fire, as Hamas, which played a leading role in the recent violence, appeared to be lowering its profile.

Since Tuesday, the Israeli Air Force has carried out one or two raids a day, compared with as many as 11 a day during the week before, according to an army spokeswoman.

The number of rockets launched from Gaza toward Israel also dropped in the past few days by about half, according to army figures. Eight rockets were launched on Friday and six on Thursday, compared with a rough average of 14 per day in the previous two weeks." Read complete post here.