From the World-Wide Resourses of the Western Australia Reserch Senter(*) OIL THE NEWS THAT FITS MY VIEWS #31 =============================== In the Run-Up to World War III, Reliably Reporting the News Relevant to Extreme Right-Wing Democratic Socialists Everywhere (validated for RiteThink(tm) by the Office of Our Man in Can-berra). Visit Our Home Page At: http://www.chickenhead.com/loserscopes/ See the Undeniable Evidence At: http://www.evil-doers.org/evidence Kindly Archived At: http://www.kymhorsell.com/OIL/ Iraqi Body Count: http://www.iraqbodycount.net/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Selecting latest news stories and other data for you... ------------------------------------------------------------ The United States is not going to impose a government on Iraq. -- US Def Sec Don Rumsfeld, 7 Apr 2003. Indicating Iraq would follow the plan that's been so successful in Afghanistan. He was more convincing in his part of the joke-u-mentary where he said the US had never landed men on the moon. My guess would be it'd be later rather than sooner. -- US Def Sec Don Rumsfeld, 7 Apr 2003. Asked when the US would declare victory over Iraq. ---------------------------------------- Mon, 7 Apr 2003. Markets Prison riot ends Bush and Blair to discuss war US prison popn passes 2 mn 1,000 die after peace deal 400 Iraqis killed in fighting New start for Afghanistan Annan talks about post-war Iraq NK fears war soon NK cancels talks with the S First US plane lands at Baghdad intl Sending a message to Saddam Basra in Brit hands Group to boost beef eating 3 injured in well fire Utzon wins Nobel Unemp Aussie waiting for 1 y Rail bridges need work Another SARS death: Canada Airline cuts Aussie routes Duel health system to remain: PM Defence expert forecasts Iraqi capitulation Hawk says US will run Iraq for over 6 m 100 Iraqis killed in airport clash: US Streets littered with Iraqi corpses as troops close on C of Kerbala US journalist embedded with troops, dies nr Baghdad More blasts follow Baghdad raid In denial -- but not the only one? Not "battle for Baghdad" Brit troops take over Saddam's palace in Basra Brit forces battle to subdue Basra US plans to rid Saddam piece by piece Guerillas strike as troops scatter Hospitals buckle as casualties escalate Militarism to be cut from schoolbooks Body of 'Chemical Ali' found: report Muslims wary of Christians bearing gifts of food and water Travel curfew imposed as exodus creates gridlock of fear Brit set to drop bomb with no blast Marines carry bodies off shot bus US confident of finding banned weapons Sarin alert sparks troop evacuation Canada starting to crack over extended winter Iran lays claim to find of 200 bodies Oxfam warns against US control of Iraq aid N Korea keeps door open to talks despite rhetoric Howard reneging on troops: Brown HK hospitals brace for the worst as SARS spreads Dont panic Dramatic fall in US beef demand India rolls out advanced supercomputer 4 die in Va shooting AUS police at Gallipoli Continuous war news Sydney. MARKETS! The All Ords added to early gains to finish strongly on news US forces were making further advances in C Baghdad and in the Iraq war. The All Ords closed 46 pts (1.5%) higher at 2,979. La Ceiba. PRISON RIOT ENDS! Authorities in N Honduras say all inmates have been accounted for after 1 of the worst prison riots in recent memory killed 69 and injured 31. Officials yesterday put the death toll at 86, but a recount of the bodies prompted officials to lower the number. The inmates were killed in a struggle for control by members of 2 rival gangs at the El Porvenir prison, 350 km N of the capital, Tegucigalpa. Belfast. BUSH AND BLAIR TO DISCUSS WAR! Pres Bush Jr and PM Blair are preparing to meet to discuss Iraq, the Middle E, and N Ireland. [!] Their summit in N Ireland will be the 3rd in as many wks for the 2 world leaders. Post-war Iraq will be a key topic for Bush and Blair, who differ over the role of the UN. Washington appears to have decided to sideline the UN as much as possible from global decisions. Washington. US PRISON POPN PASSES 2 MN! The number of people in US prisons and jails last y topped 2 mn for the first time. Official figures put the total inmate population at 2.1 mn, up 2.8% from the y before. They show the fed govt accounts for more inmates than any state, while Cal, TX, Fla and NY are the 4 biggest state prison systems. Kigali. 1,000 DIE AFTER PEACE DEAL! The UN says at least 1,000 people have been killed in ethnic violence in the DRC. In a statement, the UN mission in the C African country quotes witnesses to last Thu's attack saying at least 1,000 people died. The violence came less than 1 wk after the warring parties in the Rep signed an historic final act to end more than 4 y of brutal warfare and set up a govt of national unity. The agreement came after what was described as 19 m of torturous negotiations between the govt, the opp'n and a number of militant groups. Karbala. 400 IRAQIS KILLED IN FIGHTING! US forces say they've killed about 400 Iraqi paramilitaries during intense fighting that's secured the C Iraqi city of Karbala. US 101st Airborne rep Maj Hugh Cate says 1 of its brigades has gained control of the strategically-important holy Shi'ite city. It comes after crushing resistance from about 500 soldiers loyal to Iraqi Pres Saddam Hussein. Kabul. NEW START FOR AFGHANISTAN! Acknowledging there are still problems in Afghanistan, a landmark program to disarm, and re-integrate an estimated 100,000 fighters across the country will start in Jul and last up to 3 y. The UN-sponsored govt plan has been dubbed Afghanistan's "New Beginnings Program". It calls for the collection of weapons and offers combatants, now loyal to powerful regional warlords, alternative livelihoods. Most of Afghanistan has been ruled by warlords with vast private armies who have frequently battled one another. NY. ANNAN TALKS ABOUT POST-WAR IRAQ! Sec-Gen Kofi Annan has asked to meet the UN Sec Council today to discuss Iraq and the post-conflict UN role. The UN rep's office said yesterday a council meeting on Ivory Coast had been rescheduled so Annan could hold closed-door talks with the 15 council members. Last wk, Annan met separately on Iraq with all regional groups at the UN. Seoul. NK FEARS WAR SOON! North Korea has accused the US of using UN Sec Council discussions of its nuclear program as a prelude to war, and warned it would strength and fully mobilise its forces. A NK For Min'y rep says the UNSC's handling of the nuclear issue on the peninsula is a prelude to war. He says NK won't recognise any resolution to be adopted at a UN Sec Council meeting on Wed. Seoul. NK CANCELS TALKS WITH THE S! S Korea says cabinet-level talks aimed at reconciliation with the N have been cancelled after Pyongyang failed to confirm the meetings would take place. The talks were expected to start in Pyongyang today and run through to Thu. Seoul had hoped to use the meetings to try to persuade its nuclear neighbour to scrap those ambitions. The UN Sec Council meets to discuss NK's nuke program on Wed. Baghdad. FIRST US PLANE LANDS AT BAGHDAD INTL! A C-130 has reportedly been the first Coal'n aircraft to land at Baghdad Int'l airport. A military source said the transport landed at 8 pm local time, about 1 hr after dark. US forces seized the airport, about 20 km SW of the city, on Fri. They also say they now control practically all road access to the city. [When the capital is "cut off", the US will install the new govt in the S and declare "victory"]. Baghdad. SENDING A MESSAGE TO SADDAM! A Pentagon official says the US military operation under way in Baghdad is a show of force that sends a powerful message to the Iraqi regime. The operation has involved the seizure of 3 Pres'l palaces, one of them in the C of the capital. He says it's not necessarily the much-anticipated battle for Baghdad. A rep says it's an operation designed to demonstrate US resolve that involves increased visibility of US forces. It's aim is to send a powerful message to the regime that US forces can go wherever they like when they like. Camp As Sayliya. BASRA IN BRIT HANDS! Brit forces say they are in control of most of Iraq's 2nd city, Basra, but continue to face some resistance. Brit Centcom rep Capt Al Lockwood has also confirmed 3 Brit soldiers were killed in fighting for the city. A Reuters witness nr Basra says he saw 19 Brit troop carriers with what he estimated to be 300-400 soldiers heading toward the city from the S. After a 2-wk siege, Brit forces blasted their way into Basra yesterday in a bid to stamp out resistance from forces loyal to Pres Saddam Hussein. Canberra. GROUP TO BOOST BEEF EATING! AUS will join 3 other countries in an effort to boost beef consumption in Taiwan. The Beef Alliance, which incl AUS, the US, NZ and Canada, is targeting Taiwan's ethnic Chinese population. Meat and Livestock AUS's Tim Kelf says surveys show many ethnic Chinese believe beef is fatty and not as nutritious as other forms of protein. Mr Kelf says the campaign is aimed at changing consumer attitudes to beef in a community that traditionally eats chicken, port and fish. [Get damn foreign to change! Don't adapt to their needs! Consumer always wrong!] Brisbane. 3 INJURED IN WELL FIRE! 1 person is in critical condition and another 2 have been seriously injured in a gas fire nr Surat in SW Qld. The men were on an Origin Energy rig drilling for gas at a well SW of Surat when the fire broke out just before noon. The fire has been extinguished on the rig but 11 firefighters are still battling to contain the blaze raging at the well-head. The Qld Amb Service's Murray Excell says they've revised down the number of critically injured people. Sydney. UTZON WINS NOBEL! SYD Opera House designer Jorn Utzon has won the "Nobel" of architecture, nearly 40 y after he quit the project amid a storm of public criticism. The Danish architect left AUS after a row with the NSW govt and he has never seen the acclaimed masterpiece in person. The Pritzker Arch Prize, which has been described as the Nobel of building design, is reserved for architects whose vision, talent and commitment has resulted in an outstanding architectural legacy. Hey -- that means he's done more than that clamshell on Benalong! Canberra. UNEMP AUSSIE WAITING FOR 1 Y! A study has found that most Aussies registered as unemployed have been without a job for more than 1 y. ACOSS says long-term unemployed without work for 12 m or more accounted for only 23% of the registered jobless in 1991, but had risen to 61% last Dec. The report -- to be submitted to the Senate inq'y into poverty today -- blames the trend towards part-time and less secure employment. Sydney. RAIL BRIDGES NEED WORK! It's been reported that 8 rail bridges which should have been replaced at least 4 ya are yet to be rebuilt. The SMH says the bridges include a crossing at Menangle that was described as a risk of "sudden, catastrophic structural collapse". The paper, quoting a safety report written in 1976, says the bridge should have been replaced by 1999 at the latest. [When I lived in NY in the 90s the US govt put out a report that said 5,000 bridges t'out the country were in "critical condition". Pix shown on TV showed big holes in roadways -- some big enough to lose a truck down -- and bridge supports that had been reduced to just the re-enforcing steel. The report also indicated many 1000s more US bridges needed "urgent attention". I becha they still have not been fixed. So NSW is just adopting world's best practice]. Toronto. ANOTHER SARS DEATH: CANADA! Canadian health officials say a person who died in hosp on Apr 1 from SARS brought the country's death toll from the disease to 9. Prov health authorities in Ontario noted the death yesterday, but had not at that time determined if SARS was the cause of death. Almost all of Canada's SARS cases have been in Ontario, with 179 probable or suspected cases ID-ed by today. Melbourne. AIRLINE CUTS AUSSIE ROUTES! Cathay Pacific has cut its MEL to HK flights due to dramatically reduced passenger numbers from the SARS scare. Airline rep David Bell says the number of flights has been reduced from 11 to 7 a wk. Singapore Airlines and Qantas have also cut services in response to the war in Iraq and the deadly flu-like SARS. Brisbane. DUEL HEALTH SYSTEM TO REMAIN: PM! PM John Howard says AUS's dual health system is working well and will be retained. But he didn't say in what form. Hence the new "dual health system" characterisation. Mr Howard opened the $37 mn redevelopment of AUS's largest private health facility, Greenslopes Private Hosp, in Bris. Mr Howard says the hosp shows the value of AUS's public-private health system. The PM says the govt is committed to retaining the current system, incl the 30% private health insurance industry subsidy, and the Medicare rebate on standard doctors' fees. Defence expert forecasts Iraqi capitulation Canberra. An AUS defence expert has predicted the Iraqi regime will shortly collapse. Alan Dupont from the AUS National University in CBR says he believes US troops will try to secure enclaves in the city, rather than attempt to take Baghdad block by block. Dr Dupont says some Iraqi soldiers may fight ferociously to defend the city, but there is unlikely to be any coordinated resistance. "The Iraqi armed forces are on the verge of a comprehensive military defeat," he said. "Organised resistance seems to be on the verge of crumbling and unless this is reversed in fairly short order, and it's hard to see how this would happen, I think the collapse of Saddam's regime is imminent." Hawk says US will run Iraq for over 6 m Washington (The Guardian). Iraq may have to remain under the control of the American military for more than 6 m before the US is ready to hand over control to the Iraqis, the American deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz said yesterday. Mr Wolfowitz told the American channel Fox News that it took 6 m to establish a Kurdish govt in N Iraq after the 1st Gulf War. He also played down the likelihood of a major role for the UN in the transition. UN agencies would have a part to play but the priority was to transfer power to the Iraqi people, he said. With post-war reconstruction expected to be a contentious issue in the talks in Belfast today between Pres Bush and Tony Blair, it was unclear to what extent the Wolfowitz line represented the settled position of the admin rather than the view from the Pentagon, whose world view is once again moving sharply away from that of the state dept. One of the White House's most influential congressional supporters, Sen John Warner, echoed Mr Wolfowitz's scepticism about the UN. Mr Wolfowitz also repeated the admin's warning to Syria not to help Iraqi forces in the war. Mr Wolfowitz warned that Syria would be "held accountable". He said he was not threatening an invasion, but Damascus would face diplomatic and other consequences. The LA Times carried a leak of a classified state dept report pooh-poohing the admin's "democratic domino" theory, that democracy in Iraq will have a benign effect throughout the Middle E. 100 Iraqis killed in airport clash: US Nr Baghdad (AP). US forces killed at least 100 Iraqi soldiers in an overnight battle at the Baghdad airport, according to field reports. The fighting came hours after a giant C-130 transport landed at the Baghdad airport Sun in the 1st known arrival of a US plane in the Iraqi capital since the airfield fell into US hands last wk. The battle between members of the Army's 101st Airborne Division and uniformed Iraqi soldiers began just before sundown with probing attacks from the Iraqis at the perimeter of the 13-square-mile airport. The fighting lasted until about 1 am Mon. The Americans called in artillery and air strikes. A bomb aimed at a crane at a palace missed its target but knocked off a sniper and damaged the palace. No US casualties were reported. The airport, captured in an all-night battle last wk, is expected to be a major resupply base for American forces and a key to channeling aid to Iraqi civilians. It offers critical landing strips that will let the military hopscotch over the 350-mile supply line that now stretches from the capital to US bases in Kuwait. It is also just 10 miles west of central Baghdad, adjacent to the Radwaniyah pres'l residence. Navy Lt Mark Kitchens, a Centcom rep, confirmed the C-130 had landed but gave no details. Iraqi Information Min Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf has insisted Iraqi forces recaptured the airport. US forces said they have effective control over the airfield, despite sporadic attacks like the one Sun. Troops of the 101st fortified their position at the sprawling airport Sun, digging trenches and bulldozing sand berms. Two weapons caches -- including one with 12 crates of shoulder-fired missiles -- were found just outside the airport grounds. Troops also found 35 French-made Roland SAMs in the airport complex. Inside a VIP building at the airport, the troops found a hideaway believed to have been used by Saddam Hussein, AP TV News reported. It features a rose garden, a hand-carved door made of mahogany, bathroom fixtures that glinted with gold plating, and an office with a false door that leads to the basement, where the soldiers found weapons. The airport troops belong to a 101st unit known as the "Iron Rakkasans" because of strips of burlap connected to their helmets that they call "iron hairs." It distinguishes them from other fighters in the division. The troops were brought to Baghdad because they are light infantry fighters who are highly trained in urban combat. Streets littered with Iraqi corpses as troops close on C of Kerbala Nr Kerbala (The Guardian). US ground forces closed in on the centre of the Shia holy city of Kerbala yesterday, sending tanks through the streets and directing artillery fire on to sniper positions. Smoke canisters screened infantry advances. Iraqi defenders, who put up a guerrilla resistance from roof-tops and alleyways, were reportedly overwhelmed. One US soldier and dozens of Fedayeen paramilitaries were said to have been killed. By yesterday afternoon the city was relatively quiet. American reconnaissance helicopters passed low overhead and the streets were littered with Iraqi corpses. US patrols sprinted over road intersections and sheltered in doorways and behind walls. There was some fighting on Sun morning. Gunfire erupted when suspected Fedayeen militiamen were spotted. The operation in Kerbala, 70 miles S of Baghdad, followed a similar US sweep through Najaf, another holy Shia city in central Iraq, to root out fighters loyal to Saddam. Kerbala and Najaf sit astride the US supply lines stretching up from Kuwait to the S outskirts of Baghdad. On Sat night American forces pounded Iraqi positions with artillery fire. Iraqis fired back with rocket-propelled grenades, mortar and AK-47 rifles. The temperatures were stifling. "We're not used to this type of environment. The heat out here, it's just ungodly," said Staff Sergeant Travis May. In the city centre families cowered in mud and brick homes. 100s gathered on corners and in doorways, wordlessly watching the slow American advance. Some children were playing in the street, running by dead bodies. Elsewhere in central Iraq, US forces reported they had overrun the HQ of the Medina Division of the Republican Guard SE of Baghdad. It is not clear whether most of the division fled or retreated into Baghdad. Two marine pilots were killed when an AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopter crashed in central Iraq nr the city of Kut shortly after midnight on Sat. It was said to be due to an accident not enemy fire. Soldiers from the US 82nd Airborne Division forces manning a checkpoint at Sanawah, nr Najaf, destroyed a minibus packed with gas cylinders at the weekend, suspecting it to be a suicide attack. A US rep in Qatar accepted cylinders were often used by civilians but said the vehicle had not stopped despite repeated warnings. US journalist embedded with troops, dies nr Baghdad Baghdad. NBC journalist David Bloom has died in Iraq, apparently of natural causes, while covering the war as an embedded journalist nr Baghdad according to the television network. Mr Bloom, the 2nd US journalist to die since the beginning of the war in Iraq, seemingly died of a pulmonary embolism, which is usually a blood clot that hits an artery of the lung. He had been reporting live on the progress of the 3rd Infantry Division. For the past 3 years, Mr Bloom has also worked as co-host of the weekend version of the NBC Today Show program, one of the most popular morning news programs in this country. Mr Bloom is the 6th journalist to die while covering the war in Iraq. More blasts follow Baghdad raid Baghdad (AFP). More explosions have been heard in Baghdad after US armoured vehicles and marines in full combat gear raided Saddam Hussein's main pres'l palace. Blasts and intermittent fire have been heard in the early afternoon [around 7.30 pm AEST] from the C of the city. Coalition aircraft have intensified flights over Baghdad in the aftermath of the raid. Lt Col Peter Bayer, operations officer for the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division, says US troops have "secured" the main palace and another palace in the city centre as well as a 3rd nr the airport. Col Bayer says 65 US tanks and 40 Bradley fighting vehicles are taking part in the operation. A US infantry officer has told US TV that soldiers have taken an American flag into the palace. Black smoke is billowing from nr the compound after defenders apparently lit a trench full of oil as a smokescreen. Palm trees were also set alight. Col Bayer says US forces are nr the Iraqi Info Min'y and the city C Rashid Hotel but have not taken them. The Foreign Min'y is also said to still be firmly in Iraqi hands. The ministry is a few hundred metres from one of the main gates of the palace US troops say they now occupy. Reuters corresp Khaled Yacoub Oweis says Rep Guard units, each carrying half a dozen RPGs, are spread over the area taking fighting positions. In denial -- but not the only one? Baghdad (AFP). Iraqi Info Min Mohammad Said al-Sahaf has urged the world "not to believe" US claims of having taken key sites in Baghdad during an impromptu press conference in a Baghdad street. "Don't believe these invaders and these liars. They are none of their troops in Baghdad," he said. He added that "our heroic forces have killed 100s" of American soldiers who entered the Dora neighbourhood in the north of the capital. In a smiling, defiant mood, he said: "We killed them, we made them drink poison and taught them a lesson that history will never forget." "Baghdad is full of armed citizens ready to support the forces. "They (the Americans) are losing. I ask you to verify everything they say and not just to repeat the lies of these liars," he said. Not "battle for Baghdad" Washington (AFP). A Pentagon official says the operation in Baghdad is a "show of force" that sends a powerful message to the Iraqi regime but not necessarily the much anticipated "battle for Baghdad". The attack began around 7 am local time. Col Bayer says there are no reports of any casualties so far among US forces, adding that some of those forces are now probing the NW districts of the city. Earlier, Maj Michael Birmingham, chief public affairs officer for the 3rd Inf, gave a different impression. "The other day was just an incursion. This is for real," he said, referring to a foray US armoured forces made into SW Baghdad over the weekend. Brit troops take over Saddam's palace in Basra Basra. Brit Royal Marines struck another swift blow to Pres Saddam Hussein's regime today, seizing the huge pres'l palace in the S capital Basra, a corresp with the troops said. Soldiers from 42 Commando entered the complex on the banks of the Shatt Al-Arab waterway at 1st light in the culmination of a massive operation which began yesterday to take control of Basra. US F18 Hornets had bombed watchtowers round the compound overnight and when Marines from Juliet Company -- supported by a troop from the Queen's Dragoon Guards -- entered the palace gates there were no signs of life within the grounds. The ostentation of the buildings and gardens -- not to mention a swimming pool and yacht moorings -- struck the Marines after pushing through scenes of appalling poverty and destruction. The "gatehouse", the 1st building inside the perimeter gates was bigger than most colonial mansions and had a heavily ornate carved wooden door and massive pillars on top of the front steps. Brit Forces Battle to Subdue Basra Nr Basra (AP). A massive convoy of Brit infantry started rolling to Basra from the S outskirts Mon in what appeared to be a major move to secure the old section of the city, the last substantial pocket of resistance. The convoy of Brit light-armored infantry consisted of 50 to 75 vehicles and 700 troops. The members of the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment were in jeeps mounted with machine guns and anti-tank missiles. The vehicles are lighter, more maneuverable and better suited to getting around the old city than the equipment of the 7th Armored Brigade, which was already in the city. On Sun, Brit forces led by more than 3 dozen tanks and armored cars battled toward the center of Basra in their biggest incursion yet into Iraq's second-largest city. Brit officials said they had managed to set up base at a former college inside Basra's city limits, but did not yet control the city of 1.3 million. The Defense Min'y said 3 soldiers were killed Sun, bringing the total number of Britons killed since the start of war to 30. Brit and Iraqi forces have been locked in a battle for control of the S Iraq city since the war began. Until Sun, coal'n forces had largely limited their efforts to raids and sorties from the outskirts of town. According to Brit press pool reports, cmdrs said the bulk of Iraqi forces may have fled Basra a full 48 hours before the latest incursion. The Desert Rats killed an unknown number of paramilitary fighters and took others prisoner as the unit pushed in from the west. They were joined by troops from the 3rd Armored coming up from the south. Al Lockwood said troops intended only to set up checkpoints inside Basra. But they pressed on deep into the city with a column of more than 40 armored personnel carriers and tanks after finding "the level of resistance was low." A day earlier, coal'n aircraft bombed a compound in Basra belonging to one of Iraqi Pres Saddam Hussein's most notorious associates -- Gen Ali Hassan al-Majid, who is known as "Chemical Ali" for ordering a poison gas attack that killed 1000s of Kurds in 1988. Lockwood said Brit troops will investigate the compound to determine whether the general was killed. Lockwood told reporters the decision to move into Basra was based partly on Arab press reports that Basra leaders wanted to surrender the city. He also said reports of looting -- a sign of weakening Baath Party control -- prompted the Brit to act. Lockwood said it appeared local Baath leadership had collapsed. Royal Scots Dragoon Guards rep Capt Roger MacMillan said troops had also blown up a HQ of the Fedayeen paramilitary group. The fighters have become infamous for organizing such battlefield ruses as posing as civilians and faking surrenders. Another Brit officer, who requested anonymity, said Fedayeen fighters were breaking into homes to hide and to use them as cover. The cmdr of Brit's forces in the gulf, Air Marshal Brian Burridge, said troops had taken their time before entering Basra in order to "shape the battle space" in the coalition's favor and ensure minimum civilian casualties. He said it was necessary to attack "without risking inordinately the lives of the population -- knowing where the irregulars are, knowing where the militia are and being in a position to deal with them with as much precision as possible," he told BBC radio. Cars filled with families left Basra all day. In some cases, huge trucks were seen leaving loaded with merchandize -- dozens of mattresses, boxes of generators, televisions, refrigerators. The road running N into Basra runs through Safwan and Zubayr, smaller towns that appear abandoned. At Zubayr, 100s of people had set up a temporary encampment along a small, muddy river, where they washed clothes and ate. Children roamed the area, begging for water. US Plans to Rid Saddam Piece by Piece Washington (AP). More and more in the battle for Iraq, American troops are pressing a key point: They can move in and out of Baghdad at will. For the 3rd time in as many days, an armored column roared into the heart of the Iraqi capital on Mon, storming Saddam Hussein's newest palace and briefly surrounding the Information Min'y and the Al-Rashid, probably the city's best known hotel. This show of massive force is part of a plan to eliminate resistance from Saddam's forces piece by piece, in hopes of avoiding an all-out battle for Baghdad, home to some 5 mn Iraqis. At the Pentagon, snr defense officials said the assault was another show of force to demonstrate that invading troops can go where they want, when they want. They said it was not an effort to occupy the city, or even a piece of it. The difference this latest thrust into the capital, following forays Sat and Sun, is that Americans might stay a bit longer, one official said, adding it might be a matter of hours, not days. Officials stressed that the cmdr on the ground had the ability and mobility to decide what he will do next -- move around the area, or move along. On Sun, troops began flying into the captured internat'l airport outside Baghdad, destroyed a Republican Guard HQ and began to deploy a force of Iraqi exiles and dissidents who are to make up the core of a new nat'l army. US soldiers and Marines surrounded Baghdad to try to prevent regime leaders from getting out and Iraqi troops reinforcements from getting in, Pace said in a round of TV interviews Sun. He acknowledged it wasn't "an impenetrable cordon" around the city. Asked what tactic commanders planned in the coming battle to unseat Saddam, he said it was essentially more of the same but in a smaller space. Air power will shape the battlefield and destroy Iraqi forces and equipment; ground troops will force Iraqi fighters to move, then air strikes will attack again, Pace said. He said the airlift of several hundred soldiers from the opposition Iraqi National Congress brought people who could help fight the regime. INC officials said the force also could help distribute humanitarian aid, serve as a bridge between coal'n troops and local populations and help root out paramilitaries who have been fighting US-led forces and terrorizing civilians. US Central Command reported that 2,000 to 3,000 Iraqi fighters were killed in the 1st thrust -- a sweep Sat by the 3rd Inf through the city's SW industrial section. So far, Pace said, coal'n forces have destroyed 2 Rep Guard divs that were guarding approaches to the capital and half of the tanks, artillery and APC's of the country's other 4 divisions. Divs that numbered between 6,000 and 12,000 men each, now probably can put together only about 1,000 people in any one location at any time, he said. Contacts continue with Iraqi cmdrs to try to get them to surrender, including "letters directly from" US war cmdr Gen Tommy Franks, Pace said. Officials have said American forces might stop short of storming Baghdad and instead isolate it while the makings of a new nat'l govt are put in place. They have described the plan as neither an all-out fight for the city, as many have predicted, nor a conventional siege. Over time, the thinking goes, Saddam and his inner circle would completely lose their ability to communicate with their remaining military forces, and would be unable to control anything except their own defenses. Meanwhile leafleting and broadcasts to Iraqi troops and civilians would keep sending the message that the invading force -- not Saddam -- is in control, further weakening support for the regime. Although the main coal'n force remains outside the city, the regime is still vulnerable to special ops troops inside the capital who are hunting for leadership figures, pointing out bombing targets and possibly persuading Iraqi soldiers not to fight. Guerillas strike as troops scatter Baghdad (SMH). The Iraqi officer had been shot between the eyes, suggesting he had died instantly in an execution, rather than in battle. US marines found him beside the road to Baghdad, a road now used only by the massive American military convoys heading north towards the capital. Did his own troops kill him because he refused to give up? Or did he want to surrender, but his men thought him a traitor who knew too much? Marines speculating over his death found no witnesses -- almost all the Rep Guard soldiers in this built-up area nr Sirhan Mizban, on Baghdad's outskirts, had abandoned their weapons and posts. As marines have interrogated prisoners, it has become apparent that most of the Iraqi soldiers changed into civilian clothes and went home before the American advance on Baghdad. US cmdrs fear they may regroup to fight elsewhere, perhaps in Baghdad's build-up areas. But if that is the Iraqi plan, why did they abandon large caches of weapons and ammunition? Marines at the weekend found tonnes of Iraqi weapons and munitions -- anti-aircraft missiles, mortars and AK-47 rifles. Yesterday, US forces destroyed a large cache found in a school. Across the rd, a big haul was uncovered in a police stn. But the many Iraqi troops who appear to have given up does not necessarily guarantee US forces an easy ride into Baghdad. A several-km long convoy of the US Marine Corps 1st Division, with which the Herald is travelling, was blocked for 24 hours on Fri and early Sat by 100s of black-clad "Islamic fighters". The fighters, many of whom were said to be foreigners, used hit-and-run guerilla tactics, including snipers, to ambush marine infantrymen as they entered Salmon al Juburi, 25 km SW of Baghdad. After 24 hours of intense fighting, in which one marine was killed and 9 wounded, Lt-Col Gerry Smith, cmdr of the Marine's 5th Battalion, said: "We've pretty much wiped them out." The number of the so-called Islamic fighters killed or wounded is not known. During the fight, a marine officer radioed: "They all want to die for Allah ... as ones at the front die, they just keep coming." Yesterday, marines in this area were strengthening their positions and undertaking probing patrols into outer-urban areas of Baghdad. They encountered pockets of opposition. Several Iraqi military positions, including a grove where artillery had been set up, were destroyed by US artillery and aerial bombing. On Sat, marines walked into an abandoned Rep Guard HQ. Only 2 civilians were there. One of Saddam Hussein's palaces was found empty. The marines have been ordered not to destroy posters and statues of the Iraqi leader, of which there are many along the roads leading to the capital. "That's not for us to do -- if the Iraqis want to, it's up to them," a US officer said. The marines were trying to calm and help civilians whose main complaint was that their water had been cut for days. The civilians generally have been welcoming the US forces as they approach Baghdad. At the same time, the marines have been ordered to treat as hostile young men who appear to be soldiers wearing civilian clothes. Hospitals buckle as casualties escalate Amman (AP, Reuters). Baghdad's hard-pressed surgeons, flooded with war-wounded, are amputating the limbs of children and adults with too few anaesthetics to block the pain and too few antibiotics to protect the patients, a Greek doctor newly arrived from Iraq said. "They don't have drugs," Dr Dimitrius Mognie said. "I saw it myself. I opened the cabinets." Dr Mognie's account, after a day of touring hospitals during the coal'n bombardment of the capital, was a first-hand substantiation of a report by World Health Organisation officials, who last wk said that Baghdad was running low on anaesthetics, analgesics and surgical items. Over the weekend, Internat'l Committee of the Red Cross workers in Baghdad reported that several 100 war-wounded and dozens of dead had been brought to 4 city hospitals since Fri. The ICRC could not say how many were civilians and how many were military. Earlier in the wk, about 100 bombing casualties a day were arriving at the city's hospitals, the organisation said. But the US air attacks have since intensified and the city is now without electricity and running water. In Amman, the Red Cross's Muin Kassis said hospital staff also increasingly faced a difficult choice between staying home with their families or staying on the job. The ICRC also voiced grave concerns over access to hospitals S of Baghdad following the destruction of a bridge on the main highway leading to the south. Red Cross staff in Baghdad said they were no longer able to help victims in areas such as Hillah, Karbala, Nasiriyah and Najaf -- areas of fierce fighting and coal'n bombing recently. Last Tue a Red Cross rep, Roland Huguenin-Benjamin, visited a hospital in Hillah, 100 km south of Baghdad, where doctors had been "overwhelmed" with civilian casualties. Dr Mognie, 39, a GP from Athens who has travelled 16 times to Iraq since 1993 to research its health problems, said he saw bomb victims at a children's hospital, including burns cases, amputations and severe internal injuries. "They're using anaesthesia meant for minor surgery for major surgery, like amputations," he said. Because they are short on crucial general anaesthetics, such as Pentothal and nitrous oxide, they're using Ketamine, a "5-minute anaesthetic", even for amputations, Dr Mognie said. Surgical teams were injecting child patients with Ketamine every few minutes to maintain the effect, he said. The shortages extended to such items as gauze, tetanus vaccines and antibiotics to protect patients against infection during surgery, he said. Militarism to be cut from schoolbooks Washington (WashPost). When the new Iraqi school y begins in 5 months, the Bush Admin hopes to have in place wholesale revisions to textbooks that have taught a generation of Iraqis to be ready to die for Pres Saddam Hussein. The revisions are part of an ambitious US effort to demilitarise a school curriculum that has touted Iraqi battlefield prowess and weaponry and demonised the US as a fearsome enemy. Expatriates and scholars point to that curriculum, in place for the past 1/4-C, as one explanation for the diehard devotion of the suicide bombers and fanatical militia that Saddam is threatening to unleash in the final defence of Baghdad. More than half of Iraq knows no other schooling. Iraqi expatriates working with the US State Dept are discussing strategies for devising a new approach to education. The US Agency for Internat'l Development is preparing to award education-related contracts worth an estimated $US65 mn. A coal'n headed by Creative Associates Internat'l of Washington recently won a $US16.5 mn contract for similar educational changes in Afghanistan. Foreign aid documents obtained by WashPost suggest the US plans to repeat its Afghan strategy, which showcased schools as a quick and highly visible demo of improvements from US intervention. The stakes are high. A recent study by internat'l security experts said the reconstruction of Iraq was a test case that would go far in establishing the US's image in the Islamic world. The Iraqi curriculum was crafted to inculcate nat'lism and love for Saddam at an early age, said Phebe Marr, a former National Defence University professor and author of The Modern History of Iraq. From an early age, Zainab Suwaij and her Iraqi classmates would line up to pledge allegiance to Saddam. Pupils as young as 6 had textbooks with photos of Saddam in fatigues and pressed uniforms, saluting and smiling and reviewing troops. Other photographs showed tanks, machine guns and grenade launchers. "What a horrible thing to teach kids," said Suwaij, now 32 and living in Boston. One primary school text book shows small boys in military fatigues, including one examining an ammunition clip. Expatriates said Ba'athist teachers direct kindergarten students to chant, march and pretend to carry guns. Within a few y the children are shooting firearms and many attend paramilitary summer camps. Body of 'Chemical Ali' found: report Nr Basra. Brit's Sky TV has reported Brit military officers say they have found the body of "Chemical Ali", Iraqi Pres Saddam Hussein's cousin and cmdr of the S region. The AP news agency also reports Ali Hassan al-Majid's body has been found. In what would be a major blow to Saddam's power structure, Sky says Brit officers "have confimed the death during a briefing earlier this morning ... that's the news we are getting, that he is in fact dead." US and Brit forces earlier said Ali was believed killed when US planes bombed his house on Sat. His bodyguard is confirmed to have been killed in that raid. Both Brit's Defence Min'y and Central Command rep Group Capt Al Lockwood say they cannot confirm the report. Ali is blamed with orchestrating the use of chemical weapons on Iraq's Kurdish population. US-led forces had been hunting him across S Iraq. Last Mon, US Marines launched a dawn raid on the town of Shatra after receiving intelligence he was there. US troops also had info he was working out of a hospital in the city of Nasiriya, where a wk ago special forces rescued POW PFC Jessica Lynch. Muslims wary of Christians bearing gifts of food and water Washington (Guardian). It could only happen with an American invasion. Poised behind the troops, waiting for a signal that Iraq is safe enough for them to operate, are the evangelical Christians -- carrying food in one hand and the Bible in the other. The groups, funded by American churchgoers, are likely to do a magnificent job in offering water, food, medical help and comfort to a traumatised population. But they are causing alarm among Muslims, who fear vulnerable Iraqis will be cajoled into conversion. Some warn that the missionaries will be prime targets in an unpacified Iraq. Muslim worries have been heightened because the man leading the charge into Iraq is the Reverend Franklin Graham, the man who delivered the invocation at Pres George Bush's inauguration, the son of Billy Graham, and a fierce critic of Islam. He is on record as calling it a "wicked, violent" religion, with a God different from that of Christianity. "The 2 are different as lightness and darkness," he wrote. Mr Graham runs an organisation called Samaritan's Purse, whose workers are in Jordan, waiting to move into Iraq. It has a strong record of charitable help built up over more than 30 years, but its official aim is clear: "The organisation serves the church worldwide to promote the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ." In the LA Times last wk, Graham insisted that Samaritan's Purse will offer help to Iraqis without religious strings attached. Ibrahim Hooper, of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations is unimpressed, saying the groups involved are "despicable and deceitful", adding of Graham: "This guy has repeatedly stated that Islam is intentionally cruel. I fail to see how such a person can be a positive influence in a Muslim country. Humanitarian relief is just a cover. Their basic motivation is conversion." Also moving into Iraq are the S Baptists, the strongest pro-Bush, pro-Iraq war and pro-Israel political force in the US. Some Christian commentators are alarmed that missionaries blundering into an unstable country of which they know littlewould be in danger. 3 Baptist missionaries were shot and killed in Yemen last Dec by a Muslim extremist, who said he did it because "they were preaching Christianity in a Muslim country". Travel curfew imposed as exodus creates gridlock of fear Baghdad (Reuters, WashPost). Iraqi authorities announced a dusk-to-dawn travel ban out of Baghdad last night after clapped-out family cars, crammed minibuses and battered taxis jammed the city's streets throughout the weekend and streams of residents fled on foot with whatever they could carry. "They are traitors," one govt official said. "They are deserting us. They are leaving the city." Most of them were heading away from the US advance S of town. Long lines of vehicles were spotted to the N and NE of the city. One traffic jam extended for 10 km. People fleeing said they were going to the province of Diala, in the direction of Iran. Roads S out of the city, meanwhile, were reportedly blocked by Iraqi soldiers. Those on foot were heading in both directions. In less than one hour, 100s of people walked past one US convoy some 20 km SE of Baghdad on the main highway, but 1000s were reported to be streaming north. Men, women and children were trudging for hours through the fierce heat, carrying the odd plastic bag, blankets or a tin kettle. One woman dressed in black held up a blue plastic cup, the only thing she was carrying. "Water, water," she pleaded from passers-by as the temperature hit 35C. US marines peered down from the gun turrets of their armoured vehicles as the grim-faced families trekked past. One serviceman offered a bottle of water to an Iraqi, but was immediately rebuked. "We're here for a war -- not a humanitarian mission, OK?" a gunnery sergeant yelled at him. US troops are nervous about suicide attacks following 2 car bomb strikes in the past wk that have killed 7 soldiers. Brit set to drop bomb with no blast Kuwait. Brit's RAF is preparing to drop a new weapon on Iraqi forces -- lumps of blue concrete to knock out tanks without causing a devastating explosion. It may not be the most high-tech weaponry available, but Group Capt Simon Dobb said the bomb-shaped 1000-pound concrete blocks were highly effective weapons. Dropped from height and with laser guidance, the concrete bombs can destroy a tank without destroying surrounding buildings. Tornadoes are already using sophisticated weaponry such as the latest high-explosive bunker-busting bomb, the air-launched cruise missile Storm Shadow, which cost more than $US1million each and can pierce several feet of concrete. The inert weapon has been placed on standby for use if Iraq's Pres Saddam Hussein withdraws his tanks and artillery pieces further into Baghdad, hiding them in densely populated areas. The concrete bombs are painted blue, which identifies them as non-explosive if they are discovered still intact after the war. The Tornadoes are offering close air support to ground forces as they advance on Baghdad and are ready to play a role if urban conflict develops. Marines carry bodies off shot bus Baghdad (KRT). They carried the bodies of the children out first. There was a girl of about 12, whom the Marines wrapped in her black abaya cloak. Next off the shattered minibus was her brother, a boy of about 4, whom the Marines covered in a sports jacket. A sister, about 6 y old, had fallen between the seats. They placed her beside her siblings on a blanket. The children's mother and grandfather also died on the bus late Fri night when they failed to stop at a Marine roadblock while fleeing Baghdad. Four other Iraqis also died trying to speed past in other vehicles. It was a horrible night for Iraqi and American alike. The Marines manning the roadblocks nr Baghdad were exhausted after a harrowing day of combat. In recent days, US soldiers manning other checkpoints had been killed in suicide bombings. Even as the vehicles were trying to rush through this roadblock, 3 122 mm rockets landed around the Marines' command post. The Iraqis trying to flee Baghdad in the night left behind a city quaking with bomb blasts. They ran straight into the tremendous firepower of 3 Marine tank companies and one infantry company. The Marines fired warning shots, but 6 of the cars, trucks and a minibus kept coming. Nearly 200 people survived their attempts to get past the intersection. Uncertain what to do with them, the Marines kept them prisoner overnight in a row of shop fronts. The Iraqis were wild with fear. "Are they going to shoot us now?" one man in a brown robe asked the Kuwaiti translator travelling with the 2nd Tank Battalion. After it was all over, no one doubted that the minibus had carried anything other than a frightened family. There were 9 bullet holes in the windshield in front of the driver's seat; many of the other windows were blown out by weapons fire. "A lot of this was uncalled for," said a Navy hospital corpsman helping to remove the bodies, who refused to identify himself. "They weren't stopping, true. But they should have figured out another method. I understand why they needed to do it, but I don't think this much firepower was needed to resolve the issue." In the heat on Sat, grief-stricken relatives, their clothes stained with blood, begged the Marines to let them pray over their dead. Another older man begged to see the body of his son, who had kept on driving as the Marines fired at the road in front of his car. After recovering the bodies from the minibus, the Marines allowed the relatives to see them. Then the Marines buried them in a common grave on the side of the road. Lt Col Mike Oehl, cmdr of the 2nd Tank Btn, warned his officers that the Iraqi regime might try to gain propaganda victories by compelling civilians to run roadblocks. He ordered Marine engineers to build earthen obstacles across the highways to stop any speeding vehicles. The minibus was travelling in a 3-vehicle convoy with a dump truck in the lead and a big tractor-trailer bringing up the rear. It was about 10 pm Fri local time. The Marines with Fox Infantry Company were still trying to pull people from a Toyota sedan that had challenged their roadblock. A Marine sniper took out the truck driver with a single shot. The truck swerved, flipped on its side, and slid over an earthen mound. "Right on the heels of it, that bus was going full speed," Captain Johnson said. "So we engaged. It's just a shame. I don't know why they didn't stop." US confident of finding banned weapons Washington. A snr member of the US Govt says he is sure the coalition will find WMD in Iraq. Deputy Def Sec Paul Wolfowitz says the key to finding the weapons will be to create a climate where Iraqis are no longer fearful of providing info on the programs. That climate, he says, will come when America is in control of Iraq. "The incredibly brave young men and women who are fighting this war have their hands full fighting it," he said. "When this regime is gone -- and it's going to go, it's on its way out -- then we'll have time to look carefully and with time for those things that we're sure are there." Sarin alert sparks troop evacuation Nr Karbala (KRT). US soldiers evacuated an Iraqi military compound early today after tests by a mobile laboratory detected the presence of sarin, a powerful nerve agent. The testing came after more than a dozen soldiers from the Army's 101st Airborne Division who guarded the military compound on Sat night came down with symptoms consistent with exposure to very low levels of nerve agent, including vomiting, dizziness and skin blotches. The soldiers, along with a Knight Ridder reporter, a CNN cameraman and 2 Iraqi prisoners of war, were sent for chemical weapons decontamination and hosed down with water and bleach. If subsequent tests uphold the findings, it would be the 1st evidence of WMD, a cornerstone of the Bush admin's rationale for the invasion of Iraq and something that eluded UN inspectors for months. Early tests for chemical agents at the compound were inconsistent. Some showed the presence of so-called G-Series nerve agents, which include tabun and sarin, both of which Iraq has been known to possess. A hand-held scanning device also indicated the soldiers had been exposed to a nerve agent. Other tests, however, came back negative. More precise tests by an Army Fox mobile nuclear, biological and chemical detection laboratory indicated the existence of sarin and triggered the evacuation of the captured military compound by dozens of soldiers. Sgt Todd Ruggles, a biochemical expert attached to the 2nd Bgd of the 101st Airborne said: "I was right" that the nerve agent was present. Even as the tests were being done, high-ranking cmdrs hastened to the scene on yesterday to examine the sites, including Col Joseph Anderson, 2nd Brigade commander; Brig Gen Benjamin Freakley, assistant cmdr of the 101st Airborne for operations; and Maj Gen David Petraeus, div cmdr. They made no comment afterward on what was contained in the sites nr the village of Albu Muhawish, on the Euphrates River about 100 km S of Baghdad. US soldiers found suspect chemicals at 2 sites: an ag warehouse containing 55-gallon chemical drums, which was later sealed off, and the military compound, which soldiers had begun searching on Sat. The soldiers also found 100s of gas masks and chemical suits at the military complex, along with large numbers of mortar and artillery rounds. Sarin, an odourless, colourless and tasteless substance, can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin and is considered one of the most feared but also the most volatile of the nerve agents, chemical weapons experts have said. A cloud of sarin can dissipate after several minutes or hours depending on wind and temperature. The soldiers, journalists and POW's who tested positive were isolated as everyone else evacuated the area. After about 45 mins, the group was walked single file down a road for about a city block to where 2 water trucks awaited them. The men stepped between the 2 trucks and were hosed down as they lathered themselves with a detergent containing bleach. Canada starting to crack over extended winter Toronto. Mother Nature has played a cruel trick on Canadians by dumping snow and freezing rain on a country desperate for spring after the coldest winter in a decade. Canadians may be accustomed to living in the world's 2nd coldest country (after Russia), but some struggled to take the latest bad weather in stride, at a time when Apr showers and early spring flowers are more the norm. "It's Canada. We shouldn't be surprised but sometimes we get caught with our pants down," Kevin Dwyer, 29, said as he shovelled ice off a walkway in downtown Toronto. The storm which is working its way across the country, hit the W province of Alberta earlier this wk, and dumped 30 centimetres of snow on Regina, Saskatchewan, and poured ice pellets and freezing rain across S Ontario on Thu and Fri local time. The storm will move on to W Quebec on Sat, where up to 25 centimetres of snow are expected in Montreal. It will land on Atlantic Canada later in the weekend. In Toronto, the storm led to school closures and delayed the morning commute as trains were cancelled and ice-covered roads made driving treacherous. Falling trees have knocked out power lines, leaving about 30,000 homes in SW Ontario without electricity. Environment Canada says a y worth of freezing rain has fallen on Toronto and surrounding areas over the past 2 days. At the city's main airport, numerous flights were cancelled and passengers faced significant delays as snowploughs fought to clear runways. Air Canada scrapped all its N American flights to and from Toronto for the rest of the day due to the weather, and after the airport ran out of de-icing fluid. In 24 hours, the airport ran through its entire fluid supply, an amount that normally lasts 30 days, as each plane had to be de-iced up to 8 times the normal amount. "It's been the kind of conditions we've never seen before for a sustained period of time," Pearson airport rep Peter Gregg said, adding suppliers are shipping in more fluid from as far afield as NJ and Chicago. Adding to the region's woes, snow removal contracts for many Ontario cities ended in March, leaving towns scrambling to deploy snowploughs and salt trucks. But at least one part of Canada will be unfazed by the storm when it hits this weekend. "Half the people will be cheering for a record and half will be bemoaning it," Rita Anderson, a psychology professor at Memorial University in St John's, Newfoundland, said. "The Newfoundland perspective on Apr storms is perhaps different from the rest of the country." Residents in Canada's E-most province, who are noted for their sense of humour in the face of adversity, are accustomed to snowstorms as late as May or June. Iran lays claim to find of 200 bodies Corpses 'are from 1980s war with Iraq' Tehran (The Guardian). An Iranian Gen says the remains of about 200 people found by Brit troops at the weekend nr the S Iraqi city of Basra are those of Iranian soldiers killed during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq conflict and should be repatriated immediately, a Tehran newspaper reported yesterday. The bodies were unearthed at the Iraqi military base of Zubayr during a recent joint search by Iran and Iraq, Brig-Gen Mirfeisal Baqerzadeh was quoted as saying by the newspaper Jomhuri-ye Eslami. Brit soldiers advancing on Basra found scores of skulls and bones on Sat at the military complex. Brit forensic experts are to examine the remains, which were wrapped in fragments of military clothing in makeshift coffins and plastic bags. Internat'l human rights groups say the remains may be from the 1991 Gulf war or the victims of reprisals conducted by the Baghdad regime against its opponents. The Iran-Iraq war ended 15 y ago but the 2 countries still exchange bodies and prisoners of war. The latest prisoner exchange was on March 19, a day before the start of the US-led war in Iraq. The longest conventional war of the last century claimed 100s of 1000s of lives, with Iran suffering roughly 3 times the number of casualties as Iraq. Violations of the Geneva conventions by both sides were so flagrant that the ICRC broke its customary silence to protest at treatment of POW's and the targeting of civilians. After the conflict, Tehran and Baghdad frustrated the ICRC's attempts to trace POW's and ID the missing and dead. Brit and other W govts assisted Saddam Hussein's regime during the war. Oxfam warns against US control of Iraq aid Canberra (AAP). Internat'l aid agencies have warned they may not be able to work under a US-appointed postwar admin in Iraq. US officials say Washington plans to install the 1st stages of a civil admin to run Iraq in the S port of Umm Qasr within days. Members of the Pentagon's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, headed by retired Lt Gen Jay Garner, are scheduled to start operating in the port as early as tomorrow. The admin is said to include 23 ministries, each headed by an American with Iraqi assistance. But a rep for the aid agency Oxfam-Community Aid Abroad in Jordan, Alex Renton, said any attempt by the US to oversee humanitarian assistance would lead to more suffering for the Iraqi people. But Mr Renton warned that would be less likely once US-led forces extended their control over the entire country. "We currently are unwilling to work directly controlled by a military force," he said. Mr Renton said Oxfam believed it would only be able to work effectively under a UN admin. For Min Alex Downer yesterday backed Washington's push for a US-led interim admin when the war ends. AUS Red Cross rep Helen Durham said her organisation would never work under the instruction of a US-ruled admin. Dr Durham said while the Red Cross would not withhold assistance from Iraq, it would strongly advise coal'n administrators of what it would and would not accept. "We constantly need to remind authorities that they have to let us do our work in the way that we need to do our work, which is based on that neutrality," she said. N Korea Keeps Door Open to Talks Despite Rhetoric Seoul (Reuters). N Korea kept the world guessing on Mon about its nuclear ambitions, a day after saying that even a non-aggression pact with Washington might not avert war on the divided peninsula. The impoverished communist state, which canceled ministerial talks with S Korea that had been scheduled for Mon in Pyongyang, said the US-led war against Iraq had proved it could deter a US attack only by mustering massive force. "Only the physical deterrent force, tremendous military deterrent force powerful enough to decisively beat back an attack supported by any ultra-modern weapons, can avert a war and protect the security of the country and the nation," the Foreign Min'y said in a statement carried on Sun by the official KCNA news agency. "This is a lesson drawn from the Iraqi war," it said. N Korean TV took a different line. It reiterated that face-to-face talks were the best way to break the nuclear impasse and criticized George W. Bush's US admin for rejecting them, S Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. Sifting through the evidence, some N Korea analysts said Pyongyang, rather than setting its face against a non-aggression pact, was ratcheting up its demands for direct talks out of concern it could become Washington's next target after Iraq. The US has bracketed N Korea with Iraq and Iran in an "axis of evil" of states seeking to produce and spread WMD. Analists say N Korea is strengthening its defensive posture because it was worried about a possible pre-emptive US strike against its nuclear complex. They have apparently become more nervous because Washington was not talking to them. Howard reneging on troops: Brown Canberra. The Greens leader Bob Brown has accused the PM of reneging on his commitment to bring troops home after the war. Special forces are now expected to remain in Iraq for a long period of time. Sen Brown says it is another plan the public has not been told about. "The PM should make it clear he stands by his stated plan to withdraw the AUS Defence Force personnel the minute Saddam Hussein falls," Mr Brown said. Two quarantined in Fremantle after showing SARS symptoms Two women have been quarantined in Fremantle hospital after showing symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. One woman, admitted overnight, is believed to be in her 30s and visited HK in the last 2 wks. The other woman was admitted after arriving from Singapore. Health authorities say there are still no confirmed SARS cases in AUS, and a test for the pneumonia-like virus is still wks away. HK Hospitals Brace for the Worst as SARS Spreads HK (Reuters). HK hospitals are bracing for a possible tripling of cases of a deadly flu-like virus by the end of Apr, placing intense strain on a health system already struggling to cope with the mystery illness. As hospitals prepared for the worst the number of victims of SARS leapt in the crowded city of 7 mn and Singapore tried to contain a fresh outbreak. China and Canada reported more deaths, while Vietnam said it had 2 new cases of an illness that has spread around the world, killing nearly 100 people, infecting more than 2,600 and slashing tourism in affected areas. AUS added the virus on Mon to a list of diseases requiring quarantine, ranking the illness as dangerous as cholera and smallpox, and switched tourism promotion to non-infected countries. HK Hospital Authority chairman Leong Che-hung, speaking of a worst-case scenario, told local TV late on Sun that health officials were preparing for up to 3,000 cases. He believed there would be sufficient manpower and facilities although intensive care units would be under pressure. The govt said cases in HK climbed by 42 on Sun to 842, while 22 people had died of the illness since it spread from S China. Up to a quarter of those infected in HK are medical staff, and the govt was trying to hire doctors and nurses from the private sector. In a further blow, HK health officials were struggling to contain an outbreak at the United Christian Hospital that has struck down more than a dozen medical staff. A local newspaper reported an outbreak at a 2nd hospital but this could not be immediately confirmed. The effectiveness of a newly developed diagnostic test is also being questioned after a top hospital official in the city tested negative only to come down with SARS later. Singapore, where 6 people have died, is battling to control SARS spreading in the city state's main hospital. A doctor at Singapore General Hospital was confirmed to be infected, raising fears of a crack in the govt's strategy of isolating infected people. 20 nurses at the hospital are also suspected of having SARS and have been isolated. The outbreak comes after the govt imposed sweeping control measures by placing more than 1,000 under home quarantine and closed schools. Phone lines at Singapore General Hospital went down briefly on Mon as panicked residents flooded the switchboard checking on loved ones. 80 patients and 91 staff were transferred across town in ambulances to another hospital that is exclusively handling SARS cases. Singapore's prime minister spoke of another victim -- the economy. Goh Chok Tong said the nation's target of 2-5% economic growth this y would be revised down because of SARS, the Singapore Straits Times reported on Mon. Goh later canceled a trip to China because of fears over SARS. Canada reported a ninth death on Sun and said infections had risen to 179. Vietnam said it had 64 cases and 4 deaths. China, which has the largest number of cases, said its death toll had risen by 2 to 53, with 1,268 infections, state TV reported on Mon. The bulk of the infections have been in S Guangdong province, bordering HK. A Finnish man died of SARS in Beijing on Sun, taking the number of deaths in the capital to 4, a health official said. Chinese Prem Wen Jiabao, whose govt is grappling with its first big crisis since taking office in March, said China could control the spread of SARS and welcomed visitors. Few are likely to heed the assurance. Some foreign health experts in Beijing believe cases there have gone unreported. Beijing. DONT PANIC! Scientists from the WHO are in Guangdong province to try to trace the origins of the virus, believed by HK researchers to be new to science and belonging to a family of viruses that cause the common cold. The WHO team have been talking to early survivors of the illness trying to find how, or if, the virus made the leap from animals, possibly domesticated pigs and ducks. The virus has since spread to nearly 20 countries, leading airlines to slash flights to affected countries, cutting tourist arrivals and prompting economists to trim growth forecasts for some parts of Asia. Isolated N Korea warned its 22 mn citizens of the threat from SARS but urged them not to be alarmed. Dramatic fall in US beef demand Sydney. There's been a dramatic fall in the amount of AUS beef being shipped to our biggest export market, the US. In the last m alone, exports dropped a staggering 26%, as the US economy falters, and shoppers stay home. Peter Weeks from Meat and Livestock AUS says local processors will be hard-put to meet their export beef quota. "Certainly the cold weather that they've had in the US -- they have had a very, very severe winter, particularly on the E Coast -- has stopped people going out and buying hamburgers. The war has done the same thing. People are staying home watching CNN and concerns for travel danger have risen. The economic downturn is starting to worry a lot of consumers in the US. They're certainly in the midst of a downturn, that could go into recession." India rolls out advanced supercomputer Bangalore. India has become the world's 5th nation to have a supercomputer capable of processing 1 trillion calculations per second, according to news reports Wed. India's Information Technology Min Arun Shourie unveiled the computer, named Param Padma -- The Ultimate Lotus -- in Bangalore on Tue, The Hindu Business Line newspaper said. Bangalore is India's infotech hub. Param Padma, designed by the govt's Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, has 10 times the capacity of the country's earlier supercomputers. Only the US, Japan, Israel and China have supercomputers capable of processing more than 1 trillion calculations per second, known as a teraflop. The world's fastest computer is in Japan. Running 35.6 trillion calculations per second, the Earth Simulator is almost 5 times faster than the next best one and as fast as the top 5 US supercomputers combined. Experts say supercomputers can make climate research much more accurate, predict natural disasters, map the course of a disease such as AIDS, calculate the spread of a virus after a bioterrorist attack and speed the discovery of new drugs by simulating the interactions between chemicals and the human body. 4 die in VA shooting Roanoke (AP). A gunman killed 4 members of a family and wounded a 5th early Fri, police said. Clinton Brathwaite, 30, was arrested after the slayings and charged with murder, use of a firearm in a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, police rep Shelly Alley said. Found dead in their home were Angela Arrington, 32; her 8-yo daughter; a 10-yo son; and a 13-yo daughter. Another daughter, 14, was wounded and taken to a hospital. The family asked that the girl's condition not be released, a hospital rep said. Brathwaite and Arrington had a relationship, but he was not related to the children, Alley said. Brathwaite was being held in jail and authorities did not know Fri night if he had an attorney. He is scheduled to appear in court Mon. A next-door neighbor, who identified herself only as Charlotte, said Brathwaite lived at the home. She said that he pounded on her door about 3 am and said he had come home to find the family dead in the house. Neighbors remembered the children riding bicycles along the street and playing video games with other children in the neighborhood. David Lewis, 46, stood outside the family's one-story clapboard house wondering what happened. "Pretty little kids," Lewis said, shaking his head. "They were just like family to me." AUS police at Gallipoli Ankara. Turkey has agreed to let AUS fly in a squad of fed police to guard against any terrorist attack during Anzac Day ceremonies at Gallipoli this month. About 5,000 Aussies and New Zealanders, including fed Treas Peter Costello, plan to travel to Gallipoli for Anzac Day commemorations. Turkish authorities have told tour companies that fed police will join Turkish paramilitary police and soldiers patrolling the Anzac sites. The Deputy Governor of Turkey's Canakkale regional Govt, Haveni Mutlu, discussed security with local tour operators on Thu. lhami Gezici, of TJ's Tours, said he was told armed soldiers would be posted every 150m during the dawn and Lone Pine services on Apr 25. Mr Gezici said tour agencies expected only 5,000 people to turn up to the dawn service -- just 1/3 of last year's crowd -- due to fears of terrorism and the Iraqi war across Turkey's S border. Another 5,000 tourists have cancelled their bookings. Homemade bombs were lobbed into the Brit consulate and a UPS office in Istanbul on Wed night, exploding without hurting anyone. The consulate has closed its visa section. The AUS Govt has not discouraged people from going to the World War I battle site, but urged them to be careful and monitor travel advice from the DFAT. AUS and New Zealand flew a team of security experts to Turkey last m to assess the security risk, fearing a Bali-style attack on the thou sands of Aussies who flock to the towns nr Gallipoli to commemorate Anzac Day. "The security arrangement they have, we think, is pretty good. It is one of those difficult things," PM John Howard said yesterday. {{ CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS 11 pm (AUS) ABC, Paul McG in Baghdad. The US is still occupying the C palace, just across from the Palestine Hotel. For the last 1/2 hr I've been watching US soldiers on a levy wall inside the palace grounds dangling their legs into the river. No-one is apparently attempting to do anything about that. There was intense fighting from 8 am until about 1/2 hr ago. There was 1 very brief exchange about 10 mins ago. It seems to be over -- at least there's a lull. We can't say what's happing in the palace grounds, but given the shooting has stopped, one side has the upper hand, and it seems like the US, given who is dangling their legs into the R. That part of town is a self-contained area of about 300 acres. There are about 100 buildings in there -- it's a fortified security compound. It should be easy to hold for the Americans. That has been the focus of the US assault in the C of Baghdad. Most of the US firepower was directed into the compound. Probably the US have it, at least until I hear otherwise. Sp forces went in ahead of an armoured group. 2 nights prev and last night there was heavy machine gun and small weapons fire, several times over several hrs. I could see torches in there -- and that would not be sp forces, obviously. Someone was in their looking for the US troops. I've been driving around the town. I can hear the sound of heavy artillery to the W and a bit to the S. Yesterday I did 150 km around the greater Baghdad area, and went to the scene of the battles on Sat. [Thunder Run #1]. I saw an amazing number of Fedayeen and Rep Guard digging in, with heavy weapons. But today when I went out there again, most of the soldiers had gone. I see 2 options. 1 -- they were sent to the fighting elsewhere. 2 -- they did a runner. I'm looking across at the palace. Opposite me is a sand spit, which used to have Iraqi ammo dumps and other equipment stored there. I watched in amazement as tanks moved in today. They started opening up on the Iraq positions on the spit. Within mins the Iraqis were running down the access road, taking off. They took off their uniforms and some were running in their underwear. They threw themselves into the river, with American bullets skimming the water and shells falling around them. They swam over the R and continued running. Back on the spit, some stayed in their trenches and were blown up and killed. The Iraqi Info Min did a briefing in a car park of the Palestine Hotel today. For some reason he didn't do it in his usual room. He was drowned out by the firefights he was claiming were not going on. [Later footage showed he was claiming they were not a significant number of US soldiers in the city; not that there were none]. Marines are moving up to Baghdad from the SE. They are hitting some very heavy resistance along the way from entrenched Iraqi troops. The Iraqi forces seem completely disorganised. They operate at the initiative of local cmdrs. There seems no overall plan. Gen Brooks said Saddam still has tight control in populated areas, of Baghdad and some other cities. There have been 3 bomb alerts in Belfast. It's believed they are protests over the meeting of Bush & Blair, who will discuss the Iraqi war and also the peace process of N Ireland. 11.30 pm The FTSE is up 3% at present. Oil is down to $US27.39/bbl. The AUD is trading lower at 59.36 US c. 11.30 pm Ch 9. As the US forces build a wall of steel around Baghdad, a 12 yo boy lies in a bed nr the C of the city. Yesterday he lost his family. And both arms were blown off by the same missile that fell on his house. Elsewhere, Centcom says the tanks now in C Baghdad are staying. The US have no plans to retreat back to the suburbs. And they will be reinforced. Cmdrs say they are meeting very little resistance around the city. Coal'n forces have been going through Saddam's palace. They say they can freely park in the streets and can go through the front door of his home. They're also showing the Iraqi people the kind of lifestyle he had. There is still some fighting going on. Iraqis lobbed a missile into a US cmd area. 6 Americans were injured in that attack. Basra, Mike Usher. We spent a few hrs in the city C today. The Brits say they have a little bit to go before they're satisfied it's perfectly safe. They say all the Baath party members are either dead or have surrendered. The 3rd paras walked in street-by-street. They received an incredible reception. People came out, cheering and thanking them for being there. They called them "gentlemen" for the way they were going about the invasion. This may be a model for Baghdad. This operation may show the country will be under complete Coal'n control within days. Simon Bouda. Basra. Tanks and armoured cars rumbled through the gates. Our initial mission was to set up checkpoints. But it went better than planned. It soon became clear this was the day to seize control of the city. There was no sign of the Rep Guard. There was no real resistance, just militiamen in civilian clothes. They fired some rockets and small arms, but there was also some cheering crowds. Chopper gunships and Challenger tanks took out some of the enemy. And the Baath party HQ. There is a lot of looting going on. The Brits are not planning to do anything about it, at preset. Along the main highway there are burned out vehicles that are the signs of resistance. Karbala. The 101st Airborne has been examining a compound. In what may be a significant find, they discovered grenades filled with powder. They also found pesticide drums buried in the ground, with wires attached. No-one wants to jump to conclusions. }} CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS ---------------------------------------- Tue, 8 Apr 2003. Continuous war news Markets SARS toll now 101 Boat tragedy claims 72 29 tourists missing in Algeria Fire killed 8 8 killed in bombing Army kills 2 Gas fire toll now 1 Gunman kills 1 Man stabbed in Cairns Sudan admits Iraqi connection Chemicals found in Iraq US condemns demo Bomb threat in Belfast US Pres arrives in Belfast Russia wont sign treaty DRC swears in Group pushes for smoking ban The oysters are off Cyclone switches oil off Cyclone switched off Howard sees Sydney off Stanvac refinery switched off Medical lawsuits to be capped Affect of war on AUS uncertain Continuous war news {{ CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS Midnight. IT'S DAY NINETEEN. 1.30 am The Pentagon says the US death toll is at least 82, with 8 missing and 7 POW's. The Brits have listed 29 killed. (US) ABC, Basra. Crowds are looting everything they can get their hands on. Reporters outside the university say people are walking off with books, furniture, office equipment and computers. There's a similar story elsewhere in the city, where shops and offices have either been stripped bare or are in the process of being looted. So far, the Brits are just standing back and letting it happen. The situation is not stable in Iraq's 2nd-largest city. [Later reports said even the bank has been robbed. Ships have been set alight in the harbour, a major hotel and govt buildings have also been torched]. The Pentagon still reports the Rep Guard are operating at about 1/2 strength. Baghdad. As 1000s of US troops move in to the Baghdad area, the Coal'n has conducted another "probe" into the capital, this time from the E. But (US) ABC reports they found some significant resistance, with some bridges also blown by the Iraqis. There was also a toll to pay. There have been a number of marine and army deaths, and several injuries. The numbers aren't yet known. In another incident, a tactical centre for an Army brigade on the S edge of Baghdad has been hit by a shell. 6 soldiers were killed and another 6 wounded. Egypt's chief cleric has criticised Saddam Hussein for not going into exile. Explosions continue in C Baghdad, following the biggest night of bombing since the initial "shock and awe" attack. The Pentagon has increased its estimate of the Iraqi dead from Sat's Thunder Run. Initially they thought about 100 enemy were killed. It reached 2,000 yesterday. Now it's 3,000. The Pentagon says about 6,500 Iraqi fighters are now POW's. Many of them gave up without a fight. 2 am The US says the Baath party HQ in Karbala has been destroyed. Only 1 oil well fire is still burning in S Iraq. 2.30 am The world-wide SARS death toll has reached 100. More than 2,300 have contracted the disease. About 3/4 of the cases are in China and HK. Baghdad is still without electricity and water after the power went off last Fri, when the Marines captured Baghdad Int'l. Centcom says there have been "no extraordinary finds of chemical weapons". Visibility is low. There's rain and clouds on the battlefields, and smokey haze around Baghdad. The temps continue in the mid 30s over most of Iraq. 2.45 (US) ABC, Naminiya. The Marines are in town. Their mission is to keep the road open for US supply convoys moving N. In the small township, the streets are crowded with Iraqis. And they're filled with soldiers. There has been no fighting here, but the Marines are unhappy about what they HAVE been doing. Their cmdr has a simple message for the population: "Stay away from my road". But the local leaders have been complaining they want to keep the street open for their market. In a council meeting the Marine cmdr tells the town elders that if anyone in the population shows any sign of aggression he will respond with "overwhelming violence". Maybe that didn't translate too well. The leaders don't look happy. They say they're not Baathists. The grunts have been ordered to humour them. They've been helping with gardening, setting up market stalls, and stuff like that. This is not what I enlisted for, says one soldier. The feeling seems widespread in the ranks. The local people are inscrutable. Some wave to the soldiers and W reporters. Some ignore them. What they're thinking -- only they know. Hospitals in Baghdad have reported they are running out of supplies, with new wounded arriving every few minutes on average. The Red Cross says hospitals have been flooded with wounded. They are running short of anaesthetic and drugs. At the height of the fighting for the airport, over the weekend, hosp in the area were receiving 150 patients per hr. He said problems are only increased by the continuing lack of electricity and water. Hospitals need emergency water purification units, he said. While 1000s of 1-litre water bags had been provisioned before the war, they were starting to run out. Surgeons are also nearing exhaustion. 3.45 am BBC World Service says the civilian death toll in Iraq has reached 1,200. About 5,000 have been wounded. 4 am PM Blair, Pres Bush and Sec of State Powell have arrived in Ireland. They will be holding talks today and tomorrow on the Iraq war and N Ireland peace process. Basra. Brit forces have begun foot patrols of the C of the city. The patrols have concentrated on the "old city", a complex of narrow alleyways and streets that can't be patrolled in vehicles. Brit forces have engaged paramilitaries whenever they encounter them. A BBC reporter with Brit forces say they went to the Pres'l palace in the city. They found it had been stripped bare by looters. He says the local militia are holding out in some areas. But snr Brit cmdrs said the Baath party was finished in the city. Other reporters say fire engines have been stolen from the fire station, and have been seen driving around town. Almost every govt building in the city has been stripped. The electricity and water in Basra are still out. Mosul is under heavy bombardment, and US air strikes have been continuing along the entire front line separating Iraq and Kurdistan. The Kurds say they're less than 40 km from Mosul. But US and Kurdish forces say they've met unexpected resistance. The Kurds say they've taken the last town before Mosul, but Iraqis say they still control the town. Intense fighting has continued in Baghdad, with BBC saying about 7 American soldiers were killed. Many more enemy soldiers have also died. The sit'n is "menacing" says the reporter, with Fedayeen and other Iraqi troops patrolling the streets around the area where Americans still hold an area nr a Pres'l palace. The capture of the palace was a severe psychological blow to the regime, but it is still in control. Centcom says Saddam has spent a considerable amount of money in some Shia neighbourhoods to ensure they don't turn against the regime. A reporter with the Kurdish convoy that was involved in a friendly fire incident says he thinks he saw the missile that hit the convoy just before it landed, about 10 m away from him. He was wounded in the attack. He says the missile was about 3 m long and had a red nose, and ID-ed it as a Maverick, with a 55 kg warhead. If it had been a bomb, he said, he would not be alive. The AGM is designed to have a focused blast, and was probably aimed at the Iraqi tank that was in the convoy of civilian cars and trucks. 4.20 am The Russian Ambassador arrived in Damascus after another friendly fire incident, claiming he had been attacked by US forces. He indicated the men and equipment he'd seen were definitely American, contradicting claims made by the US Amb in Moscow, who said there were no US operations in the area at the time. Colin Powell has indicated he will incl Moscow on a sweep of Europe that will start in Dublin, and take in Paris and Berlin. 4.30 am Initial tests of chemicals found at a compound nr Karbala have tested positive for mustard gas and nerve agents. When asked about the find, Def Sec Rumsfeld said such initial reports frequently turned out to be wrong. He said he'd seen dozens, and dozens, and dozens and dozens of such reports over the years, and they'd usually been wrong. 4.45 am With Donald Rumsfeld indicating an interim govt headed by Lt Gen Jay Garner (ret) will be quickly installed in Iraq, BBC World News reports under the Geneva Convention an occupying power cannot change a country's constitution or change its government. European markets have closed higher, with traders more optimistic that there will be a quick end to the Iraqi war. The FTSE was up 3.1% and other EU markets were also up significantly. The opening on Wall St has been more muted, presently trading up 2.4%. Brent crude traded down a 4 c to $US24.65/bbl. 4.50 am Iraqis are complaining about the US "liberation". Some officials have complained about the "sexual" magazines they have been handing out to the population. BBC has confirmed that some magazines that have been given to Iraqis by US soldiers have featured scantily-clad women. Locals said the Americans had been giving out "many, many" of the magazines. "They are trying to change the minds of Iraqi people", said one complainant. US military cmdrs questions by BBC said their troops had been informed about local sensitives and cultural mores. 5 am DW Radio News says 2 soldiers and 2 journalists have been killed in an Iraqi rocket attack on an comm centre outside of Baghdad. About 15 US soldiers were also wounded in the attack. 2 of the wounded are in critical condition. [Later reports say 4 soldiers were killed. 17 vehicles were also destroyed in the attack]. Baghdad. At least 9 civilians have been killed when a missile crashed into a resd'l area in the C of the city. The US says it had intel that Saddam Hussein and his 2 sons may have been in the area. }} CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS Sydney. MARKETS! The All Ords closed down only 1 pt at 2,940 after clawing back early losses. The market opened sharply lower, but on the news mid-session that Saddam Hussein may have been killed in a Coal'n bombing of C Baghdad the index rose sharply. In Japan, the Nikkei ended down 1.5%. O'night Wall St was up 23 pts to 8,300. It was up 3% during the session, but fell back on bad US economic news. Gold was up $US2 to $US321.50/oz. Oil fell to $US27.94/bbl. The AUD is trading around 59.78 US c. HK. SARS TOLL NOW 101! The death toll from the SARS virus causing a global health scare hit 101 today as more death from the mystery illness were reported in China, Canada, HK and Singapore. China and Singapore each have revealed 2 more deaths from the disease, while Canada and HK reported 1 each. Nearly 2,800 suspected cases have been detected around the world. Dhaka. BOAT TRAGEDY CLAIMS 72! The toll from Bangladesh's latest boat tragedy has risen to 72 as rescue workers recovered 10 more bodies. A local official says 10 more bodies were found on Sun which takes the death toll to 72. He says it's impossible to say if all the victims have been accounted for because the boatman gave conflicting figures for the number of passengers on board the ferry that capsized 3 days ago. The boat collided with a cargo vessel late Fri and capsized in the Surma R. Berlin. 29 TOURISTS MISSING IN ALGERIA! Germany has issued travel warnings to Algeria after 29 European tourists have gone missing in the Sahara desert. Officials from the German crime investigation agency have travelled to the region to join a hunt for the tourists. Some of them haven't been heard from since late Feb. Algeria has been racked by violence since early 1992, when the military-backed authorities cancelled a general election which radical Islamists were poised to win. Tijuana. FIRE KILLED 8! Mexican authorities believe arsonists are responsible for a fire that swept through a tenement, killing 8 people and injuring 2 others. Police have arrested 4 people seen milling around the building in 1 of Tijuana's poorest neighbourhoods just before the fire broke out. City fire chief Carlos Gopar says flames spread quickly through the tumble-down wooden building, where tenants had used plastic sheeting and corrugated metal to cover holes in the walls. Vladikavkaz. 8 KILLED IN BOMBING! 5 law enforcement officials and 3 civilians were killed when a car exploded in the Chechen capital, Grozny. The blast came as a group of EU officials headed to the war-shattered region on a fact-finding mission. Officials say the vehicle hit a land mine in the C of the city, about 150 m from Chechnya's press ministry building. The incident came as a troika of EU officials led by Greek Amb to Russia Dimitrios Paraskevopoulos headed to Chechnya for a 3-day visit. Ramallah. ARMY KILLS 2! Israeli undercover troops have shot dead a militant they say tried to escape capture in a W Bank town. Local officials say Israeli soldiers also killed a 15 yo youth in a vineyard nr a Jewish settlement late yesterday and later handed his body back. Ethnic violence has continued sporadically despite US appals for calm since the start of the US-led war on Iraq last m. Washington has pledged to press ahead with a so-called road-map to end 30 m of Middle E bloodshed. Brisbane. GAS FIRE TOLL NOW 1! 1 of the 3 men injured in an explosion of a gas drilling site in SW Qld has died in hosp. The 40 yo man died late last night in the burns unit of the Royal Bris Hosp after suffering burns to more than 80% of his body. 2 other men remain in a serious but stable condition in the hosp with burns to 20% of their bodies. The men were on a drilling rig at an exploratory gas field site at Myall Ck nr Surat, 500 km W of Bris, when a fire broke out late yesterday morning. Natchitoches. GUNMAN KILLS 1! A gunman has opened fire in a classroom at a Louisiana trade show, killing 1 students and wounding another. Police say a 22 yo man was arrested about 1 hr after the shootings at Louisiana Technical College. They say he'd registered there, but had not attended classes for several wks. They say they're not sure about the motive for the attack. Brisbane. MAN STABBED IN CAIRNS! A man has died after being stabbed in the chest at Cairns in FNQ early today. Police say the 30 yo man was stabbed during an altercation at the Sportsbar Rock Cafe about 12.30 am. They say the man was pronounced dead after being taken to the Cairns hosp. Khartoum. SUDAN ADMITS IRAQI CONNECTION! After Coal'n forces in Baghdad say they've captured Sudanese fighters, Sudan's For Min has admitted that his nationals could be fighting alongside Iraqis against the US and Brit forces. Mustafa Ismali told reporters that of the estimated 6,000 Sudanese working in Iraq before the war, only 1/3 have returned home. He says the other 4,000 have "political leanings", implying they are members of the Sudani Baath party, which has links to Iraqi Pres Saddam's ruling party of the same name. Washington. CHEMICALS FOUND IN IRAQ! US military officials say army soldiers searching a compound in C Iraq have found metal drums that may contain chemical weapons. However, testing of samples has yet to be complete. Pentagon officials say laboratory tests in the US are needed to confirm whether the drums found S of Baghdad contain chem weapons, pesticide or something else. A unit of the army's 101st Airborne div searched the compound nr Hindiyah, about 100 km S of Baghdad. Washington. US CONDEMNS DEMO! The US has condemned a mob attack on an office used by peace monitors in the Indon prov of Aceh. Around 1,000 people attacked the empty office of the Joint Security Comm'ee in Langsa yesterday, destroying computer and other equipment before setting the building on fire. Protesters demanded the release of hostages allegedly held by the separatist Free Aceh Movement. They also called for the disbanding of the JSC, which supervises the implementation of a peace pact between govt and separatists. Belfast. BOMB THREAT IN BELFAST! Bomb threats have forced police to shut down a Belfast airport and a major highway hrs before the arrival of US Pres Bush in N Ireland for an Iraqi war summit. Brit army explosive experts used remote controlled robots to blast apart a suspicious package discovered by police beneath an overpass of the M2 motorway. Traffic along the rd -- the major route from Belfast to Belfast Int'l airport W of the capital -- was diverted onto side streets for hrs. Belfast. US PRES ARRIVES IN BELFAST! US Pres Bush Jr has arrived in Belfast for a summit with Brit PM Blair to make plans for a post-war Iraq. The meeting comes as forces loyal to Iraqi Pres Saddam appear to be crumbling in the face of US advances in Baghdad and Brit success in Basra. Bush and Blair reportedly are in broad agreement on the need for UN imprimatur for a post-war Iraqi admin. But the US rejects EU demands the UN play a significant role in the Iraqi transition govt. Moscow. RUSSIA WONT SIGN TREATY! A snr Russian deputy says his country can't ratify a key strategic arms reduction treaty with the US while fighting in Iraq is continuing. The statement is in apparent contradiction to Pres Putin's call for the treaty to be ratified. Putin had said deputies should ratify last y's Moscow treaty -- an agreement to slash US and Russian offensive nuclear stockpiles by 2/3. Kinshasa. DRC SWEARS IN! Pres Joseph Kabila of DRC has taken the oath of office as head of a transitional govt aimed at restoring peace and democracy in the vast C Af country. Kabila was sworn in on DRC's new constitution, which had been drawn up by delegates from govt, rebel movements, militants, civil society and the political opp'n. Under the new const'n, Kabila, as Pres of the interim govt, will enjoy all the prerogatives of head of state, incl that of being able to rule by decree. Melbourne. GROUP PUSHES FOR SMOKING BAN! Anti-smoking campaigners are pushing for a ban in Aussie pubs and clubs by the end of the y. Anne Jones, CEO of the lobby group Action on Smoking and Health, says the 2nd AUS Tobacco Control Conf will make the call at an int'l meeting in MEL this wk. She says state govts should recognise the strong public support for smoke-free venues and move to protect the health of all workers in enclosed public places. Sydney. THE OYSTERS ARE OFF! SYD's oyster supply is under a cloud today after the NSW govt closed 3 harvest areas on the S Coast because of a toxic algal bloom. NSW Fisheries Min Ian MacDonald says 3 more harvest areas are also under close examination. he says the harvest areas of Wapengo Lk, Merimbula and Twofold Bay have been closed. More testing will be undertaken at Nelson Lagoon, Bermagui, and Pambula next wk. Perth. CYCLONE SWITCHES OIL OFF! Oil production at the NW Shelf Venture off the WA coat remains shut down today as category 2 Cyclone Inigo moves toward the Pilbara coast. Operator Woodside Petroleum says it shut down and disconnected its floating production tanker from its sub-sea mooring yesterday. Rep Kirsten Stoney says the tanker could be reconnected to its mooring tomorrow, once the cyclone passes. Perth. CYCLONE SWITCHED OFF! Cyclone Inigo has crossed the WA case nr Mardie stn in the Pilbara. It whipped itself into a cat 5 cyclone as it ran parallel to the coast over the weekend, before turning toward the Pilbara on Sun. It weakened significantly as it approached WA. Inigo was downgraded to a cat 1 storm just before it crossed the coast between Onslow and Karratha about 1 pm today. Canberra. HOWARD SEES SYDNEY OFF! PM John Howard has told seamen aboard the HMAS SYD that he hopes their tour of duty in the Persian Gulf will witness the end of the Iraqi war. Mr Howard has thanked the SYD's 230 crew for their service while farewelling them from SYD Harbour at 10 am this morning. He told the crew he hopes that during their time -- in the not distant future -- the "really hostile part" of the war to disarm Saddam of his pesticide drums will end. Adelaide. STANVAC REFINERY SWITCHED OFF! The Pt Stanvac oil refinery is to be moth-balled for 10 y. Mobil announced it will close the refinery within m, but has vowed to re-open it in the future when market conditions improve. The decision will result in the loss of about 400 jobs. Mobil Oil Aus refining and supply dir Chris Ericson says the company can no longer continue to operation the refinery in the current market environment. He says the Adel refinery played a large role in Mobil AUS's $99 mn loss in 2000 and $208 mn loss in 2001. The SA govt says it's the worst possible decision for the workforce and for the state. Canberra. MEDICAL LAWSUITS TO BE CAPPED! The AMA says the latest fed govt proposals to alleviate the medical indemnity crisis is a step in the right direction. Under the govt proposal, state-based regulators would set the size of caps on doctors' liability for injuries inflicted on patients. In exchange, doctors would have to agree to indep monitoring of professional service standard by individual state-based regulators, which would also have the job of determining the size of the cap. Canberra. AFFECT OF WAR ON AUS UNCERTAIN! The mid-term effects of the Iraqi war on the Aussie economy remain uncertain, with business scaling back investment plans. A poll by the ACCI found that most are expecting growth to level out. The measure of future investment fell for the 3rd m in a row. Meanwhile, AUS's unemp is tipped to have edged higher in Mar, to 6.1 from 6.0% in Feb. {{ CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS 4 pm The Pentagon has announced it struck an "Iraqi leadership target" late yesterday. A large amount of ordinance were dropped in a building in C Baghdad, aimed at a restaurant that may have contained Saddam Hussein and his sons. The Pentagon says it had intel from 3 different sources about Saddam's location. A B-1 bomber dropped 4 J-DAMS on al Mansour district. While there's no confirmation that Saddam was there, the attack reportedly killed 9 Iraqi civilians. US Admin officials had previously said it didn't matter whether Saddam was dead or alive because the US controlled most of Iraq. The Pentagon issued a statement that Saddam Hussein has been killed in an attack on Baghdad. It then retracted the statement. It then made a statement returning to a prev position, that it didn't matter whether the Iraqi leader is alive or dead. Iraq forces have mounted a counterattack on the palace seized by US marines yesterday. They have been repulsed by Coal'n forces. There was US tank fire from the palace. An A-10 tank burster was also called in, dropping bombs on the enemy and and strafed a govt building described variously as the office of Dep PM Tariq Aziz or the Planning Ministry. Baghdad. US tanks have moved onto a bridge over the Tigris, after being on the W bank of the R. They strayed there for some time, apparently scanning the area for targets. Abu Dhabi TV was fired on, either by one of the tanks or an over-flying warplane. A large barrage of shells landed on the E bank of the R. Iraqi TV has shown Saddam meeting officials, incl one of his sons. Later, the stn was again knocked off the air. 6.30 pm SBS TV. 2 Apache choppers have flown over Baghdad for the first time today. The Coal'n force has pulled out of the al-Rashid hotel, where they set up a base yesterday. There was a firefight before daylight around the palace, which Coal'n troops also captured yesterday. The Iraqis used mortars and RPG's. The Americans replied with a barrage of tank and artillery fire. A tank-buster aircraft attacked Iraqi forces in Baghdad for the 1st time. Fighting also broke out around the Planning Min'y. The building was eventually set on fire. 2 US tanks moved onto a key bridge on the main thoroughfare into the city. They opened fire on Iraqi positions. Americans also pushed out from the al-Rashid hotel. The Al Jazeera office in the city was hit by Coal'n fire. They say 1 corresp was killed in the attack. Abu Dhabi TV also came under fire. Both networks say the attacks were deliberate. Baghdad. Caught in the middle, there are more victims of collateral damage. Several men told reporters their wives and children are still buried under the rubble of their homes. They told the reporters the Americans had done it. Witness say at least 14 were killed in the Coal'n attack. The suburb was attacked because it is known stronghold of Baath party officials and their homes. 1 missile hit and gouged a 10 m deep and 15 m wide crater. It's not the only civilian neighbourhood hit o'night. In a neighbouring sub, many house were been hit by debris from bombing. Several children were hurt in their homes. Baghdad Hosp has been stretched to the limit. A hosp official says 75 people were brought in immediately after the American raids o'night. Drugs and anaesthetics are running out. Tonight, 100s of Iraqi families are fleeing the capital. It's a mass exodus. They are headed E in cars loaded with personal belongs. The fight for Basra is over. The Brits seized the Old City without a shot fired after a siege that lasted 2 wks. Coal'n forces received a welcoming but muted response from the battered residents. Paras moved into the old city un-opposed. Iraqi forces has been there just hrs earlier. Some were still there, and were captured. The seizure of the city came with widespread looting. 1000s stripped govt buildings of everything they could. A/C units were ripped from buildings as Brit troops move through the city. Some civilians weren't happy to see the Brit troops. Red Crescent workers collected bodies of soldier and civilians on the city outskirts. A woman told reporters she has been searching for her 25 yo son for the past 14 days. His body was later found. Umm Qasr. The Brits are trying to show the port is finally safe. 250 tonnes of supplied were off-loaded from ships today. The supplies incl tea and water purifiers. The chief of the USS Constellation says air missions over Iraq have been cut back because the skies over the country are getting too crowded. Only 500 air strikes were carried out in the last 24 hr. But the Coal'n military toll is climbing. The last numbers say 89 US soldiers have been killed, while 30 Brits are dead. There are no firm estimates of the Iraqi mil toll, but most say 1000s of Iraqi troops are dead. [The US said 3,000 were killed just during their first reconnaissance around S Baghdad]. Iraq says 600 civilians have been killed and 4,000 wounded. [Indep estimates last Fri said at least 850 civilians had been killed in the war to that point]. 6.42 pm SBS says there have been signs of mustard gas discovered nr Najaf, after 5 soldiers developed blisters and reported nausea. They reported the symptoms after walking into a building that stored Iraqi ammo. Further N, drums containing "suspect chemicals" have been found in Hindiyah, 100 km S of Baghdad. According to mil sources, one officer has said the chem might be pesticide. [Later reports say more officials now suspect the barrels are just pesticide]. So far, no WMD have been found. The Brit mil are confident they will be. There is also no indep confirmation that Chemical Ali is dead. But Al Lockwood still says he's dead. Lockwood says his death sends a signal to the people of S Iraq that the regime is gone. Mosul and Kirkuk. Kurd cmdrs say they are now 5 km from Kirkuk. But they've been told to advance no further on fears of stirring up Turkey. They've seized more terr'y in N Iraq. Iraqis have shown some resistance before retreating back into Mosul and Kirkuk. US sp forces and Kurds now have control of several key towns N and E of Mosul. They've also advanced within striking distance of Kirkuk. The US has halted the Kurds outside Kirkuk. Washington doesn't want to give Turkey an excuse to intervene militarily. Iran has told Turkey it fears regional instability in the aftermath of the Iraq war. The Iran For Min says Iran does not want an indep Kurdish state established inside Iraq. In Istanbul, 10,000 protesters marched today, calling for the US to get out of the Middle E. In Cal, police have cracked down on anti-war protesters. They fired rubber bullets and concussion grenades into demonstrators. 20 protesters were injured. 30 were arrested. In NYc, 300 protesters in Manhattan accused US companies of profiting from the war. There were several arrests outside a company connected to the US def ind'y. The HMAS Sydney was forced to stop on its way to the Gulf to allow police to remove protesters clinging to its hull. The SYD was steaming down the Harbour when Greenpeace launched a pre-emptive protest in speedboats. 1 demonstrator clung to the bow and 1 to stern of the ship. The SYD was forced to stop so so police could remove them. 10 people were arrested by police. 2 of the arrests followed a chase up the harbour by police. 1 policeman was injured. The RAN denied the protest exposed bad security. In CBR, Mike Hannan said a speedboat would not be treated so leniently in the Gulf. Arriving in Syria, the Russian Amb was definite his convoy has been attacked by US troops in Iraq. He had been 40 m from US armoured vehicles, he says. His diplomatic insignia were in plain sight. Firing had continued for 40 min, he said. The US have now admitted US forces may have mistakenly fired on the Russian diplomats. On the way to Syria, the group was also stopped by Australian forces operating in the W of Iraq. They were offered medical help, but it was declined. SBS says the Aussies weren't mentioned by the Russian amb in his talk to the media in Damascus. PM Howard said the SAS offered the medical help, and even offered to medivac injured diplomats out. The Russians say no diplomats were hurt, but 2 civilians were killed in one car. In what some say is a veiled threat to AUS, Indon Pres Megawatti has mentioned the US and its allies in a conf speech. The group were the world's machos, she said. While they put up a front of morality, they were practising the law of the jungle, the Pres said. 7 pm (AUS) ABC It's been another night of heavy fighting in Iraq. Coal'n troops are digging in around Baghdad. The AF dropped 4 bombs on one neighbourhood, in an attack aimed at the "leadership". At least 14 bodies were recovered from the rubble. There was no indication any snr leaders were killed. One witness says 3 families are still under the rubble. US troops came under sniper fire today. They hit back with air strikes. The Info Min building was set ablaze. US tanks were inching across the river but didn't cross into the dense E neighbourhood that could be far more dangerous that the sparsely-populated W and S. Earlier today, Iraqi state media showed Saddam and his sons meeting military chiefs and other officials. Outside the Palestine Hotel, where many W reporters stay, many loyalists gathered to show their support for the regime. The Brits say the war will end when the Iraqi people show the regime no longer exists in their psyches. Civilians are walking out of Baghdad with white flags. While some just don't have access to vehicles, some apparently fear convoys will attack US fire. Following news of the destruction of dozens of Iraqi tanks around the Iraqi capita, Coal'n Cmdrs have now been told to avoid destroying any more. The plan is to use them to form the basis of an army after the war. Brit Marines used an armoured vehicle to break in the doors of Saddam Hussein's Basra palace yesterday. A battering ram had failed to dent the heavy and beautifully carved wooden doors. They expected to find the remnants of the Fedayeen of local Baath officials, but it was complete empty. Some reports say Saddam never moved in. N of Basra Brit troops went out to confront the Iraqi 6th div today. But the Iraqis reportedly fled N, dissolving into the desert. The Brits say they met only cheering civilians, and looters. Kurdish troops have now regained control of the hills around Halabja, incl bases operated by Ansar al-Islam. In HK there are 40 new SARS cases each day admitted to hosp. In Canada, a top medical official fighting the outbreak has become infected with the illness. In AUS only 3 suspected cases remain in isolation. 7.45 pm Paul McG, Baghdad. It's been another amazing day here. Each day feels like a year, each min like a week. It started with the 1st appearance of US tanks out of the Pres'l compound. It's not clear what they were doing. Perhaps they were attempting to assert authority or maybe they were trying to take a bridge over the R. But there was a fierce battle. There was heavy tank fire and aerial bombardment. Iraqi fighters used a multi-story office as a shooting platform. That building was racked with US heavy artillery fire. To the SE, US helicopters and fighter jets launched a missile attack on the complex where the war started. The opening shots were dropped on a bunker there. There has also been an RPG attack on journalists in the last hr. While the military are forced to be here, and the civilians don't have a choice either, journalists do. We conference each hr, trying to stay safe. The sit'n is unpredictable. It's moved in weekly cycles, and we're at a new one here. The Americans have to move out of the pres'l compound they've captured. They have to move in more force. If they're going to convince the Iraqis that "good" will prevail, and they will restore law and order. The Iraqis say they will launch urban combat. We haven't seen that yet. The taking of the Pres'l compound yesterday was conventional warfare. It won't be until the Americans go out into the E side of the city where there are many small labyrinthine streets. When they will be easy targets for Iraqis on rooftops firing anti-armour grenades. This morning was just a nudge-up on the bridge. If the Americans were trying to get across the bridge they didn't get there. If they were putting their heads up there was significant Iraqi resistance that kept them to the W end of the bridge. The Iraqis kept their fire strong and close to the mark. The Rep Guard didn't strip to their underwear and run away today. The air hunt for Saddam is part of the drama. We heard about it from our driver. He went to a restaurant in the sub that was hit, and the restaurant was hit 2 mins after he left. We went to see the crater there, about 1 block away from the restaurant. There was a crater where 3 or 4 houses once stood. It was 20 m deep and 40 m wide. [SBS later reported it was 15 m wide and 8 m deep]. Everything nearby is pulverised. It's impossible to tell what might have been under the street level. I didn't hear it, but a local head said Qusay had been seen in the area. There is also very significant sand-bagging around the neighbourhood -- and that's out of kilter for a resid'l area. [Qusay had reportedly been running the defence of Baghdad]. But local people said they were ordinary civilian families in the bombed homes. They had relatives staying there, seeking refuge because it was safer there than other parts of the city. 8.30 pm The Palestinian Hotel in Baghdad has come under attack. Film showed pock-marks of what appeared to be RPG's or tank fire. 9.30 pm SBS. An A-10 tank-buster has gone down nr Baghdad airport. The pilot ejected safely. It's been confirmed a US tank opened up on the Palestinian Hotel, where many W journalists are staying. 1 journalist was killed in the attack, and several more are injured. The Pentagon says tanks were after Iraqi snipers operating in the building. But many reporters dispute the explanation, saying no fire has come from their building. [Gen Brooks claimed the tanks were responding to sniper fire from the building's lobby, but reporters point out only the upper floors were hit. They also say they could almost meet the eyes of the tank cmdrs involved, and say they knew only reporters were on the floors targeted]. The Iraqi Info Min says Iraqi forces are getting ready to destroy the US troops in Baghdad. They would be "burned in their tanks" if they didn't surrender, he told reporters. He said he wasn't frightened by the US attacks and reporters should also not be frightened. The "3 intel sources" used to target the Al Mansour (aka "Mansur") residential district with 4 J-DAMS today are said to be: (i) a POW who said there was a meeting of top officials there; (ii) sensitive listing equipment that heard Saddam Hussein's voice in the area [turn that TV off!]; (iii) and "reliable witnesses", which some suspect is code for SAS, who saw Saddam and his sons in the area [or someone that looked like the Pres; even Chemical Ali looks similar]. Among several other "friendly fire" incidents involving journalists in Baghdad today, the Reuters office has also come under attack. SBS says 1 was killed and 1 wounded. [Ch 7 says 4 were wounded and says there are unconfirmed reports a 2nd Spanish cameraman died in the attack]. The Palestine Hotel was attacked by a US tank. People held up children to the windows to beg Americans not to fire again. The US says there was an RPG fired from the hotel first, but reporters say there was nothing before the tank opened fire. [Later reports said US officials claimed there was fire from the hotel's lobby. But reporters pointed out the tank fire was aimed at the upper floors of the hotel. The reporters say they saw the tank's canon aimed up at a 45 deg angle]. 10 pm Ch 7. After numerous complaints from home-owners about rampant looting, Brit troops have now started acting as police in Iraq's 2nd city. Property owners had made numerous complaints to Brit cmdrs as their removable property was carted off by huge crowds. The city's luxury hotel and other buildings have also been set alight after they were completely stripped by thieves. Brit soldiers waving pistols have now started indicating to the crowds that removing property from govt buildings and appts in the CBD of Basra is no longer acceptable. 11.45 pm Geof Parry, Basra. The scene in Basra remains chaotic. Film showed people stoning a bus, breaking its windows. Like many govt offices, the university has been stripped, with even ceiling fans cut down and taken away. While other looting continued unabated, crowds pointed out men using a tractor and cart to move dozens of sacks of flour. Calling "Ali Baba, Ali Baba" -- apparently the universal term for "thieves" -- the crowd caught the attention of Brit troops. It's unclear where the flour came from, but it was confiscated by Brit forces and taken to a food distribution centre. The men driving the tractor were taken into custody. }} CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS ---------------------------------------- Wed, 9 Apr 2003. Continuous war news Markets Israeli airstrike kills 7 Another US shooting claims 2 Bombing not decl success by US F-15 missing Journalists suffer more cas than soldiers Germany sends troops to Algeria China blocks NK res 6 cosmonauts blast off for Mars ISS astronauts take final walk Aussies in Iraqi govt Cross-burning a crime SARS fallout The cost of crime {{ CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS Midnight. IT'S DAY TWENTY. 1 am (US) ABC's lead story -- is Saddam Hussein still alive. A new audio tape allegedly from Osama bin Laden has urged suicide attacks on Arab countries supporting the war against Iraq. The tape specifically mentions Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Saudi. The take is said to originate from Afghanistan, where it was obtained by AP. Wearing a full flack jacket and helmet, and also a "PRESS" sign, Richard Engel in Baghdad. 1 journalist was killed on the 13th and 14th stories of the Palestine hotel when it was hit by tank shells. Several others were wounded. 4 rooms were partly destroyed. There was no sniper fire or RPG fire was coming out of the hotel as far as I could see. Earlier al Jazeera lost 1 reporter across the R. The W side has seen very intensive fighting t'out the day. US tanks and APC's have moved up and down, taking up a position on a bridge. Apache helicopters have provided air support for the first time. Raghe Omaar for BBC World News, Baghdad. Anything on the E bank that could be a target was hit by the Americans this morning. We heard a very loud noise. An A-10 tank-buster flew overhead. It let loose a ferocious barrage on the Planning Min'y. It circled back and blasted it for a 2nd time. The American forces are pushing on relentlessly and pounding all def positions. It seems everything is their's for the taking, considering how little resistance can be seen. 1.05 am The Pentagon says the Iraqi military has been reduced to light infantry, with the majority of its armour destroyed. They estimate only 19 out of an original 850 SU-era tanks remain, and only 14 out of 550 artillery pieces are still operating. In the SE of Baghdad, which we haven't heard about, US Marines have taken al Rasheed mil airport on the edge of Baghdad. They've also taken the Rasheed mil prison. The prison was abandoned, but they found a number of US camouflage uniforms. They have no explanation why the uniforms are there. There is presently fighting all around the city, as the US tries to reinforce its forces. The Pentagon has released its latest casualty lists. The US: 90 KIA, 7 POW, and 8 MIA. The Brits have lost 30 KIA. The US Federal Reserver is considering an emergency rescue plan for the US economy. The plan might include interest rate cuts as well as a cash infusion for the banking system. 1.25 am NBC. David Kay, former UN weapons insp, says any insecticide plant can be turned into a nerve gas plant by "changing the valves". He was commenting about the suspicious chemicals found at an ag chemical plant nr Karbala. The symptoms reported by soldiers and reporters at the scene could be caused by both nerve agents and ag chemicals. When the UN inspected the area in 1991 they found nerve agents, mustard gas and other chemicals buried in drums. Samples of the materials should be sent to labs all around the world, to prove the US case that Iraq still had WMD. [But it seems instead of worrying about Saddam giving nerve gas to terrorist groups, we should have been worrying about organo-phosphate factories all around the world were they can be obtained directly]. Centcom has apologised to al-Jazeera for the loss of its journalist in a "friendly fire" incident. 1.37 am Continental airlines have cut back flights to HK over fears of the SARS virus. 2 am NBC. 2 Polish journalists have been free after being held for almost a day by Iraqi militias. They had their camera rolling went a group of journalists approached a Fedayeen checkpoint in C Iraq. They had entered a region where there was no American presence. All the journalists were ordered out of their cars at gun-point. 3 Polish journalists escaped, and went to seek help. But 2 were held for 19 hrs. The 3 that escaped found the 2 Btn 8th Marines to ask for help. But for some unknown reason at some point the other 2 got away. It speaks to the issue that there are pockets of Iraqis with weapons still in the country. As command and control begins to break down there is a possibility those Iraqis with weapons will become a Mafia and possibly turn on other Iraqis that have supported the invasion. 2 doctors from the group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) are still missing in Baghdad. The organisation thinks they are being held by Iraqi authorities. But there has apparently been no official word on the fate of the duo. MSF is no longer operating in Iraq due to the incident. Latest polls show 77% of Americans support the war. 2.30 am DW Radio reports a prov of Pakistan has moved toward Islamic fundamentalism. In reaction to the ousting of the Taliban and the War against Terrorism, 6 Islamic groups have gotten together to pass a bill that imposes Islamic law on the prov. Among the first victims were a popular singer, who was told singing is no longer allowed. He has demanded the prov'l govt provide jobs for people who will become unemployed under the new leg'n. Movie houses were also quick to experience the new laws, many of which are not actually on paper. They were told the advertisements for many films were "immoral". Billboards have since been painted black, showing only the names of the movies. Some groups in the prov, as well as elsewhere in the country, say the move signals a dangerous tendency toward institutionalised Islamic fundamentalism. Another 3 journalists have died today in coal'n attacks. 2 cameramen died in the Palestine hotel when it was hit by US tank fire. It was supposedly on a list of buildings not to be struck. The Pentagon says the tank cmdrs were defending themselves, because Iraqis were taking advantage of the US's targeting policy. An al-Jazeera journalist died in a separate incident, when a tank cmdr targeted a building containing the news network's office. Film of both events suggested the attacks were un-provoked but deliberate. The Pentagon has issued a waring to journalists that "a war zone is not a safe place to be". Journalists say they've been deliberately targeted by the US, and some professional groups have mentioned war crimes' investigations. The paranoids amongst the group suggest it's a strategy to get them to quit Baghdad, which now faces the prospect of bloody street-by-street fighting. The military might not want too TV coverage of the carnage. In AUS, there are presently little to no pictures coming in from the war front on network TV. The start of wk 3 of the war has seen all networks return to the usual trivia. The US have destroyed 2 key bridges over the Tigris R. The Pentagon is confident Saddam and at least one son was in the building that was hit by 4 900 kg J-DAMS. They say it only took 45 min between the time the intel saying Saddam was present to the bombs landing on the target. Brit intel, however, suggests Saddam left a few minutes earlier. It seems the people of Basra are rising up against looters. Film showing the stoning of a bus were protesters directing their anger at thieves, who used busses and other vehicles to raid the city's food stores. Brit troops eventually acted, returning sugar and grain to the grain-store. The Brits have now told the population the transition time to a new Iraqi regime is not an excuse for lawlessness. The US is now moving to take control the resid'l areas of Baghdad on the E banks of the Tigris. They say their first move will be to cut the city in 1/2. Humanitarian aid into S Iraq has slowed to a trickle on fears the port of Umm Qasr is still not safe. Up to 8 Aussie officials are already in Iraq ready to take up their posts in the government post-war Iraq. They are reportedly waiting for the capture of Baghdad. Oil and defence portfolios figured high on the list of appointments. 1 Marine has been killed and 6 others wounded in firefights in the subs of Baghdad. Syria has joined Iran and Turkey to try and prevent the division of post-war Iraq. HK authorities are investigating a theory that cockroaches are spreading SARS. While coverage from Baghdad is sparse in AUS at 6 am, the EU channels seem to be showing plenty of vision. Just one of the advantages of being a member of the Coal'n of the Willing. 7 am ABC, Peter Lloyd in Doha. There's fallout from the killing of journalists in Baghdad. The Nat'l Fed of Journalists in Brussels says the attack on Al Jazeera is nothing less than a war crime. The network was also targeted by the US in Afghanistan, they say. There's a great deal of shock and anger among the profession, especially among the 100+ journalists still in Baghdad. Media outlets around the world say there was no fire from the Palestine Hotel before the Americans opened fire. On the escalating civilian deaths in Iraq, the Coal'n is not saying much, either. Centcom in Qatar is refusing to give even preliminary estimates of the civilian casualties. [The line to Peter Lloyd went dead at this point]. 7 people have been killed and 15 wounded after an Israeli F-16 opened fire on a house in the Gaza strip. Militants have called for an immediate revenge attack on Israel. [Later reports said the F-16 fired a missile at a car carrying 2 snr Hamas leaders. As a group of people gathered at the scene, it circled around and fired a 2nd missile into the crowd, killing 5 more people and wounding about a doz more]. A missile has landed in Iran, nr the Iraq/Iran border. There may have been some casualties. No other details. RAI TV has shown Brit troopers patrolling Basra. Royal Marines are using tried and true tactics to move through the streets. They keep low, and carefully scan the surrounding area through their rifle sights. They move along the street in leapfrog style, one soldier squatting while the man behind him moves forward. Tanks are also patrolling the larger streets. Some looting is still going on. The streets look like a war zone, with rubbish scattered everywhere. There are also bomb-damaged buildings and some cratering in the broad main streets of the down-town area. There are also un-exploded bombs in some streets and peoples' yards. Despite claims that the water is working again, there are still long lines of civilians to water handouts. The AUD has broken the 60 US c barrier again. It's presently 60.08 US c. 10 journalists [(AUS) ABC says 12, 3 of them embeds] have been killed so far in the Iraqi war. This exceeds the toll for GWI and Afghanistan, combined. The BBC says, in proportion, 15 times more journalists have been killed in Iraq than Coal'n soldiers. Brit intel has cast doubt on the idea that Saddam Hussein was killed in the US attack. 100s of families continue to flee Baghdad, as ferocious fighting continues around the capital. The Americans are now moving to control the E bank of the Tigris, where the main population centres of the city are. Despite a peace deal, 9 people have been killed, and peace monitors have ordered teams to withdraw, from the Indon island of Ache. Desperate for film from Baghdad, Ch 9 is showing French TV footage. It's 9 am Baghdad time. Young men with rocket grenades are preparing to engage US forces. An American tank is on a bridge up ahead. Despite being out-gunned, they attack. The French cameraman goes with them. A firefight erupts. Bullets and tank shells whizz around them. They're using the concrete supports of a bridge and an overhead roadway as cover. It's not that effective. This is the battle for Baghdad. It's fierce, chaotic and nasty. One of the men is killed, several of them are wounded. The shooting lasts 10 mins. The survivors retreat, trying to find help. They use a cart to drag off one wounded comrade. A police car risks the withering fire to carry them to hosp. "Fuck you Bush! Fuck you Bush!" one of the young men yells into the camera. He hasn't been hurt in the exchange. He vows to come back when he's found more ammo. If this is what the Americans face, it's going to be a bloody fight. At the Centcom daily briefing today Gen Vince Brooks faced 200 journalists. The questioning was spirited. Journalists quizzed him on the circumstances surrounding the deaths of at least 3 journalists in Baghdad in the past 24 hrs. Brooks said Iraqis were using journalists as human shields. He said time and time again the US didn't have a policy of targeting journalists. They just got lucky every now and then! 7.20 am Ch 9. At the American Centcom briefing today, Vince Brooks says the Americans had credible info from a CIA informant that Saddam and his sons were in a restaurant having lunch. This conflicts with other stories that Saddam was in a bunker underneath the building that was bombed. But Gen Brooks said we may never know who was killed in the attack. Reports out of London say Saddam left mins before the attack. There were no good answers in the Centcom briefing toady. Brooks dodged the Q of whether the Coal'n has samples of Saddam's DNA to check against at the site of the bombing. 6 Russian cosmonauts are to be confided in an imitation capsule for 18 m to simulate a mission to Mars. The SARS toll has reached 103. 2,600 people are infected, world-wide. A US F-15 and its 2-man crew are missing over Iraq. Apparently they disappeared Sun, Iraq time. }} CONTINUOUS WAR NEWS NY. MARKETS! The Dow trod water this session, but the volume was disturbingly low. There was a raft of bad profit news from companies. The Asian markets were broadly down. The FTSE is currently down 65 pts. Gold is down 65 US c to $US322.35/oz. The AUS is higher, trading at 60.08 US c. Gaza. ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE KILLS 7! Israeli forces have killed a snr Hamas leader, one of his deputies, and 5 other people in air strikes just hrs after Pres Bush Jr vowed to renew efforts to end the violence in Palestine. Hospital sources say more than 40 other people were wounded in the attack in Gaza City's densely-populated Zeitoun area in the first such attack since the start of the US-led war on Iraq, 3 wks ago. Boston. ANOTHER US SHOOTING CLAIMS 2! w people, incl a prominent cardiologist, have been fatally shot at Mass General Hosp in Boston, but the details remain sketchy. Police say Dr Brian McGovern, who is from Ireland, and an unidentified woman who worked at the hosp were taken to the ER, but both were subsequently pronounced dead. Neither police nor hosp officials would comment on a motive for the shootings. Washington. BOMBING NOT DECL SUCCESS BY US! A top Pentagon officials is cautious about describing as a "success" a bombing strike on a Baghdad block where the Americans believed Saddam Hussein may have been staying. Maj Gen Stanley McChrystal, vice-dir of ops at the Joint Chiefs, says there was a 45-min lag between receiving intel and the bombs being dropped. He says the strikes were "very effective" and launched on info obtained from several sources. [Brit intel afterward suggested Saddam and his sons had left the area just mins before the bombs hit. The attack killed at leat 12 civilians, and wounded dozens more]. Washington. F-15 MISSING! 2 US airmen flying an F-15E Strike Eagle fighter-bomber that went down in Iraq on Sun have been declared MIA. The US DoD says the 2 men and their aircraft were deployed from the 4th Fighter Wing, Seymour Johnson AFB in NC. So far, 96 US military have been killed and 7 are listed as POW's. London. JOURNALISTS SUFFER MORE CAS THAN SOLDIERS! The Iraq war has been proved more deadly for journalists than both GWI and the conflict in Afghanistan to date. 5 reporters were killed in Baghdad in the last 24 hrs alone. The death of journalists from Reuters news agency, Spanish broadcaster Telecinco, and Arab TV channel Al-Jazeera takes to 10 [ABC (AUS) says 12] the number of people killed while working for the media. Fire from both sides have killed them. News organisations are demanding answers from the US after attacks killed 3 reporters. 2 incidents yesterday were caught on several cameras, and seem to contradict US claims they were firing back on enemy who had taken up positions nr media. Some journalists are talking "war crime", saying the Geneva Convention forbids combatants endangering civilians, incl media. Berlin. GERMANY SENDS TROOPS TO ALGERIA! Germany has sent a special forces squad into Algeria to join the manhunt for 29 missing tourists, incl 15 Germans, missing in the vast Algerian Sahara desert since Feb. Officially, 5 German federal police investigators have flown to Algiers to find the travellers, some of whom have not been heard from for 8 wks. The tourists -- 15 Germans, 8 Aussies, 4 Swiss, a Dutchman and a Swede -- have been missing for weeks in the huge expanse of desert. The area is known to be haunted by smugglers, drug runners and a militant group linked to the al-Qaeda network. NY. CHINA BLOCKS NK RES! China has blocked a US proposal for a UN Sec Council statement to condemn N Korea over the suspected resumption of its nuclear program. Diplomats say the 15-nation council is expected to make only a brief comment to the media after its meeting tomorrow. And the diplomats say the council won't deal with the impasse over Pyongyang's nuclear program. Moscow. 6 COSMONAUTS BLAST OFF FOR MARS! 6 Russian cosmonauts are to be confined in an imitation spacecraft for nearly 18 m without a break to prepare them for a possible return flight to Mars in 2018. The real journey to Mars would take more than 1 y. Dmitry Malashenkov of Russia's Inst of Biological and Medical Problems says the experiment will last 500 days. He says it is designed to simulate conditions that can arise during a return journey to the red planet that is currently being prepared. Cape Canaveral. ISS ASTRONAUTS TAKE FINAL WALK! 2 US astronauts have taken a 6.5 hr spacewalk from the ISS to finish tasks at the outpost before returning to Earth. The sortie into space by the cmdr Ken Bowersox and science officer Donald Pettit is likely to be their last on this mission. They finished a number of maintenance chores, incl work on power connections, replacing lighting for a transport trolley, reconfiguring cables on a navigational gyroscope, and securing covers on the stn's thermal control system. [I don't know how much science they did]. Sydney. AUSSIES IN IRAQI GOVT! Up to 8 Aussie officials are reportedly in Kuwait as part of a govt-in-waiting that will move into Iraq as soon as Baghdad is captured. The Aus Fin Rev says 1 experienced CBR administrator is even expected to assume a snr mgt position. The newspaper says the officials have been selected because of their specialised knowledge in areas incl oil, macro-economic mgt, agriculture, aid and defence. Washington. CROSS-BURNING A CRIME! The US Supreme Court has made it a crime to burn crosses as a threat, in a key ruling aimed mainly at the KKK and other white supremacist groups. The court's ruled on the case brought by the state of Va after an appeals court there ruled that the state's ban on cross-burning violated the right to freedom of expression. At the centre of the issue are 2 white men in Virginia Beach who forced a black family to move from their home after burning a 1.2 m cross in their back yard. Canberra. SARS FALLOUT! The SARS virus hasn't yet killed a single Aussie, but economists fear it could harm the economy. AUS has had only 1 confirmed case of the disease, a Brit citizen who recovered before going back to the UK. Westpac snr economist Huw McKay says if SARS isn't contained by mid-y, it could trim growth in SE Asian countries by 1 pt. The risk to AUS is that a slowdown in trading partners would depress demand for exports. [Elsewhere, Qantas has announced it will shed 1,700 jobs as a result of the down-turn in int'l travel, partly a result of SARS fears]. Canberra. THE COST OF CRIME! The AIC has found crime costs AUS $19 bn pa, or about 5% of GDP. The report has found the cost of dealing with crime cost another $13 bn, or $1,600 for each Aussie. Inst dir Dr Adam Graycar says estimating the cots of crime is important in directing law enforcement resources and activities to areas where they will be of the most [short-term] benefit. ======================================== (*) Who is responcible for W.A.R.S? A small group of dedicated sandgrubbers, bannana-lickers and 5th columnists on the run from support payments and sundry legalese in their home countries. Mention us at any Uncle Harry's Suburban Bunker and get a 10% discount on cop-killers! All speling macroizated for correctitood by Mcrosotf Speelchek. *** Duck!! I think they're aiming at us!! ***