From the World-Wide Resourses of the Western Australia
Reserch Senter(*)
OIL THE NEWS THAT FITS MY VIEWS #207
===============================
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).
Our Home Page:
The Undeniable Evidence:
Even More Uneniable Evidence:
US Centcom News Releases:
Iraqi Body Count: [9,211 as at 02 Jun 2004].
UN Mailing List:
Some Of The News, Some Of The Time:
This Stuff Blogged:
Also Kindly Archived:
------------------------------------------------------------
Selecting latest news stories and other data for you...
------------------------------------------------------------
We would always have discussions with the Australian PM... and we
would respect the decision of the Australian people...
-- Sec of State Powell, 12 Jun 2004.
The Bush Admin says it would not be a disaster if the Howard govt
lost the up-coming federal election.
I think the Labor Party is telling the Americans one thing and
the Australian people another.
-- FM Alex Downer, 13 Jun 2004.
Classic projection. The Howard govt is critical of both the Opp'n plans
to withdraw Aussie troops and maintain embassy security in Iraq.
[Of the 850 personnel in the Gulf Area] The Labour Party would be
talking about pulling out only a couple of hundred of them.
-- FM Alex Downer, 13 Jun 2004.
The Howard govt is apparently now urging that more soldiers be
pulled out of Iraq.
He should get briefings and... er... y'know... learn.
-- FM Alex The Downer, 12 Jun 2004.
Consider the source. Afraid of an Opp'n landslide at the next
election, the Fed Govt are pushing the Opp'n leader's "inexperience"
in foreign affairs. With enough briefings, Mr Downer indicates, Mr Latham
would have believed chemical weapons don't degrade in 6 m.
[What I remember was] Anything we did would conform to US law...
-- Pres Bush Jr, May 2004.
The Washington Post has found documents that show Gen Sanchez
authorised the use of dogs to "frighten" POW's, binding in
torture positions for up to 45 mins, and the withholding of food and
water. All apparently legal for US police.
----------------------------------------
Sat, 12 Jun 2004.
HEADLINES:
Spain wants to extradite alleged bombing 'mastermind'
Life sentence likely for Oklahoma bombing conspirator
Voters give Blair "kicking" over Iraq
Labor may keep some troops in Iraq: Latham
Italy denies Iraq ransom claims
Iraq cleric "calls for new start"
How to lose friends and alienate people in Iraq
Dutch Govt plans to keep troops in Iraq until 2005
"Al Qaeda" slams Middle E plans
"Fahrenheit 9/11" director now has Blair in sights
3 in hospital with legionnaires
ACTU aims to raise child labour awareness
AMA defends use of overseas-trained doctors
Angry buzzard terrorises cyclists
Archbishop "paid too high a price"
Berlusconi's SMS to voters angers Opp'n
Blair defiant despite Labour pains
Blue erupts over Virgin credit fee
Bosnian Serbs admit to Srebrenica massacre
Canada's Conservatives now election front runners
Carnley unhappy with Archbishop's resignation
Claims Howard won't visit Princes Highway
Coup attempt in Congo put down by troops
Coup ringleader flees Congo capital
European stocks slip
Immigration Dept says suicide reports "wrong"
Jackson charges to remain secret, judge rules
Labor remains split on Garrett
Labour punished in council vote
Latham finds no succour in Brit vote
Legendary US singer Ray Charles dead at 73
Man's ear severed in nightclub brawl
Mexico, US, Canada agree on live cattle rules
NY A-G subpoenas 3 insurers
Plane reported "in trouble" nr Adel
Police investigate brutal hotel bashing
Police recapture 2 more Perth escapees
Pub promises end to mouse-eating
Qld horse-riding event draws global attention
Qld police investigate rape claims
Qld union members rally against FTA
SYD traffic back to normal after bridge accident
Sadr calls for cease-fire in Najaff
Saturn probe focuses on dark moon
Shiite groups clash in Najaff
Storms flood 100s of Nicaraguan homes
Torture complaint ignored: records
Traffic chaos after SYD Harbour Bridge crash
Vic Govt does U-turn on speeding fines
Vicn ski season set to open
WA swimmers re-assured after shark attack
Mexico, US, Canada agree on live cattle rules
Mexico City (Reuters). Mexico, the US and Canada have reached an
agreement on tightening animal health rules, opening the way for a
possible resumption of trade in live cattle between the 3 countries, a
Mexican agriculture ministry official said on Fri.
Trade in live cattle has halted following the outbreak of mad cow
disease in both the US and Canada last y.
Javier Trujillo, the ministry's agricultural health chief, told
Reuters the 3 countries agreed the rules in a teleconference this Wed.
"We have technically accepted an agreement that could create some
movement in live cattle between the 3 countries," he said.
Trujillo did not say what the health rules entailed or when they would
come into place.
"It is an agreement that right now puts an emphasis on [cattle trade]
between Canada and Mexico but is actually focused on movement between
the 3 countries," Trujillo said.
Mexico was the world's No. 2 importer of US beef, buying $1 bn worth
of live cattle and meat every year, but it banned the import of US
beef products in Dec after a mad cow case appeared in Washington state.
The ban was eased in March to allow most US beef products back into
Mexico, mainly de-boned beef from animals under 30 m old and veal from
cattle 9 m of age or younger.
But trade in live cattle is still suspended, pending the
implementation of new health rules for cattle.
Trujillo said the agreement gave importance to the renewal of Canadian
exports of dairy cattle to Mexico, which Mexico is keen to renew to
keep its dairy stocks vigorous.
"We are in a hurry because it has been a y without replacements from
Canada and the dairy cattle gene pool in Mexico has come mainly from
Canada for many years," he said.
US Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said in Apr the dept was reviewing
some 3,300 comments submitted on a proposal to reopen the US border to
live Canadian cattle, but could not say when a final decision would be made.
European stocks slip
NY/Sydney (AFP). European stock markets have closed lower overnight
in thin trading, amid a dearth of corporate news and lacking direction
from Wall Street.
US markets were closed for the state funeral of former US president
Ronald Reagan.
The Brit FTSE 100 index fell 0.05% to 4,484.0 points, the German DAX
30 index lost 0.18% to 4,014.56 points and the French CAC 40 shed
0.32% at 3,699.38.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares dipped 0.11 per
cent to 2,797.05 points.
The euro fell to its lowest level in 2-and-1/2 weeks, before edging
back up in late day trade.
"One shouldn't read too much into today's markets because the US is
closed and yesterday was a holiday in some European countries,"
Commerzbank Securities analyst Rolf Elgeti noted.
Earlier, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.42% at 11,526.8 points
as investors locked in profits on the benchmark's 5% gain over the
previous 5 sessions, dealers said.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ended down 0.21% at 12,396.4 points in
cautious trading.
Elsewhere in Europe, the Swiss SMI index rose 0.17% to 5,690.0 points.
The Amsterdam AEX ended 0.22% lower at 341.36, the Brussels Bel-20
fell 0.89 % to 2,450.16, the Madrid Ibex-35 shed 0.44% at 8,062.3 and
the Milan Mib30 edged down 0.01% to 28,144.0.
Legendary US singer Ray Charles dead at 73
LA (AFP). Ray Charles, who battled childhood poverty, blindness and
heroin addiction to help pioneer soul music and become one of
America's most enduring musicians, has died at the age of 73, a rep said.
Dubbed the "Genius of Soul" during an acclaimed six-decade career,
Charles died of complications from liver disease.
His publicist Jerry Digney said Charles had family and friends with
him when he passed away at his Beverly Hills home.
"It's devastating," he said.
"He's been ailing for a while now and it started out with a hip
situation and went from there to other things, primarily the liver."
Charles went blind at the age of 7 but songs such as Georgia on My
Mind and I Can't Stop Loving You, made him a household name who had
the rare honour of being enshrined in the US halls of fame of rhythm
and blues, jazz and rock.
Last Aug, Charles cancelled part of a US concert tour for the first
time in 53 y due to severe hip pain and underwent hip replacement
surgery in Dec.
But as doctors treated Charles, other ailments were diagnosed, and
Charles ultimately succumbed from complications due to liver disease.
The singer, who celebrated the 10,000th concert of his staggering 58-y
career early last year, had announced he was ready to tour again.
Charles' last public appearance was alongside Clint Eastwood on Apr 30
when the city of LA designated the singer's studios an historic landmark.
Just before his death, Charles completed a duets album called "Genius
Loves Company," that featured Norah Jones, BB King, Willie Nelson,
country star Bonnie Raitt, Gladys Knight and crooner Johnny Mathis.
Charles also gave his signature touch to songs such as the Beatles'
Eleanor Rugby and Yesterday, and made a moving recording of America
The Beautiful.
Charles was born Ray Charles Robinson in Albany in the SE state of
Georgia on Sep 30, 1930.
After the blood disease glaucoma rendered him blind at the age of
seven, Charles was sent to a school for the deaf and blind in Florida,
where he developed a lifelong talent and passion for music.
The young pianist later made his way to the NW city of Seattle where
he 1st performed as a solo act, modelling himself on the late musical
legend Nat "King" Cole.
While in Seattle, he met a young Quincy Jones, the renowned producer,
and they became lifelong friends and musical collaborators.
Storms flood 100s of Nicaraguan homes
Managua (AFP). Storms have flooded 811 homes in Nicaragua's Caribbean
city Puerto Cabezas, forcing 200 people out of their homes. A
collapsed bridge cut off Puerto Cabezas, 350 km NE of Managua, from
the nearest town, Lamlaya. Although rains stopped on Fri, the
Nicaraguan Territorial Studies Institute said the rains were expected
to resume on Sat.
"Fahrenheit 9/11" director now has Blair in sights
WATCH OUT TONY!
LA (Reuters). Michael Moore (news)'s anti-Iraq war crusade is not
stopping with Pres Bush as the filmmaker says he now wants to make a
movie about Brit PM Tony Blair's role in the war.
Moore, director of "Fahrenheit 9/11," the controversial documentary
which last m won top prize at the Cannes film festival, said on Fri
that he now wants to take a close look at the Brit leader's role in
backing the war in Iraq and sending troops into harm's way.
"I personally hold Blair more responsible for this war in Iraq than I
do George W Bush, and the reason is Blair knows better. Blair is not
an idiot. What is he doing hanging around this guy?," Moore told
Reuters in an interview.
"Fahrenheit 9/11," which will hit US theatres on June 25, looks at
links between the family of Pres Bush and powerful Saudi Arabians,
including the family of Osama bin Laden . The film also contends that
Bush thrust the US into a war it did not need to fight through a mix
of fear and misinfo.
Brit and Blair have been the staunchest supporters of the US-led
coalition in Iraq, but Moore said that in making "Fahrenheit 9/11" he
had to choose just exactly what parts of the story on which to
focus. He trained his investigative camera on Bush and that, he said,
was a hard decision to make.
"I struggled with it because, I think, what I decided is that I need
to make a separate film about Blair, at some point here. I need to do
something about Blair and Brit."
He likened Blair to an older sibling of Bush's and said that, as a
parent, when 2 children get in trouble, the parent usually questions
the older one as to how he or she could let such a problem occur.
Meanwhile, Moore said he has steeled himself for efforts by Bush
supporters to discredit his film, which he said is already happening
with attacks on his Web site and in newspapers amid the current
campaign for the Whitehouse. He has made no secret of the fact that he
does not support Bush, and wants his reelection attempt to fail.
To counteract efforts challenging "Fahrenheit 9/11," he has hired
Chris Lehane and Mark Fabiani, 2 former political advisers to Bill
Clinton and Al Gore, to establish a "war room" that will immediately
support any claims made in the movie that come under attack.
The group, he said, will be staffed by 6 to 7 people and will operate
24 hr a day, monitoring newscasts and scanning newspapers, magazines
and other publications for statements made discrediting the movie.
"You come at me with anything, we come back with the truth," Moore said.
Moore, who said he is registered as an independent voter, has yet to
throw his support behind presumed Democratic presidential candidate
John Kerry .
He said the movie is not an effort to support Kerry's Whitehouse bid,
and said that if Kerry were elected, "I'd keep my eye on him, too."
Dutch Govt plans to keep troops in Iraq until 2005
The Hague (Reuters). The Dutch govt said on Fri it plans to keep
around 1,300 troops in Iraq until March 2005 as part of a multinat'l
force in a boost to the US-led coalition overseeing a transfer of
power to Iraqis.
The decision by PM Jan Peter Balkenende's centre-right govt to renew
the mandate for its troops to stay in Iraq is expected to be put to
the lower house of parliament within 2 wk. It is expected to gain approval.
"The mission is not open ended. The 8 m period is related to the
organisation of elections and points in the UN resolution," Balkenende
told a news conference.
The US has asked other nations to keep their troops in Iraq after the
U.S-led coalition hands over power to an interim Iraqi govt on June 30
amid continued violence. A U.S-led multinat'l force has around 160,000
troops in Iraq.
The move to keep Dutch troops in Iraq follows a decision by fellow EU
member state Spain to withdraw its troops, sealing its conversion from
a pillar of the U.S-led coalition into one of Washington's harshest W
critics over Iraq.
"The Govt has decided today to extend the Dutch military contribution
to the multinat'l forces in Iraq for a period of 8 months [from
mid-July 2004 until mid-March 2005]," the Foreign Ministry said.
The Dutch govt's decision comes a matter of days after the UN gave
resounding approval to a resolution on the future of Iraq. The US and
Brit ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein 14 m ago after invading Iraq.
The UN Sec Council voted unanimously on Tue to adopt a US-Brit
resolution that formally ends the occupation of Iraq on June 30,
endorsed a "sovereign interim govt" in Iraq and authorised a US-led
multinat'l force to keep the peace.
The decision by the Dutch coalition could prove controversial. A
recent opinion poll showed that the Dutch public is divided over
keeping its forces in Iraq.
"It's an important decision and I hope that it will benefit from the
support of parliament and Dutch society," Balkenende said at a news
conference.
Dutch troops have been based at Samawa in S Iraq since July 2003 with
a mandate to help with reconstruction and to provide security and
stability in a region where Japan has sent 550 non-combat troops to
help rebuild the country.
Labor may keep some troops in Iraq: Latham
Mark Latham ... protective force may stay in Iraq.
Canberra. Fed Opp'n leader Mark Latham has admitted he may leave
Aussie troops in Iraq to protect diplomats there, if the Foreign
Affairs Dept recommends it.
Mr Latham has previously promised that Labor would withdraw AUS's
forces from Iraq by Christmas if it wins govt.
But on commercial radio yesterday, Mr Latham said Labor would take
advice on whether a protective force needed to remain behind.
"We've said consistently since March that we'd take advice from the
Foreign Affairs security people about what needs to be done whether
that means leaving troops there or some other arrangement," he said.
"We'll take advice when we come into govt from the foreign affairs
security officials about what should be done."
Asked if Labor would pull the troops out "lock, stock and barrel" or
listen to any advice suggesting some soldiers needed to remain in Iraq
to protect diplomats, Mr Latham said: "No, we'd listen to that advice.
"It's hypothetical; we're talking about the end of the year, not the
middle of the y so we'll get that advice in govt.
"It might mean leaving some troops there; it might mean some other
arrangement so well just take that advice when it comes."
Mr Latham says AUS's alliance with the US will survive any difference
in opinion on Iraq.
"For over 60 y we've been serious about supporting the American
Alliance," Mr Latham said.
"But our position, as it was during the Hawke and Keating years, is
that from time to time there will be disagreements, and on Iraq there
was a disagreement.
"We never supported the war in the 1st place and we've had major
concerns about it since.
"We've never seen the American alliance as a rubber stamp; we'll
always stand up for AUS's best interests and we believe the best
interests of this nation were reflected in our stance opposing the war
in the 1st place and bringing the troops home by Christmas."
Labour punished in council vote
London (AFP). PM Tony Blair's ruling Labour party has been routed in
Brit's local council elections, losing 468 seats nationwide, according
to results announced for all but 2 of 166 councils contested.
The opp'n Conservative party picked up an extra 270 seats while the
Liberal Democrats, which opposed the US-led Iraq war, gained 135 more
seats out of the 6,084 up for grabs in Thu's vote.
According to a BBC projection of total votes cast, Labour came in a
humiliating 3rd place behind the 2 main opp'n parties, in an
especially harsh drubbing which Blair conceded was due in part to his
policy on Iraq.
The Tories snagged 38% of the popular vote, compared with 30% for the
Lib Dem's and only 26% for Labour, according to the BBC tally of
selected wards.
2 councils had not yet reported their results. The midlands city of
Birmingham suspended its vote count late Fri [local] and said it would
announce final results on Sun.
The town of Walsall in the W Midlands also held off on reporting its
results after a box filled with 200 ballots was discovered beneath a
table after counting had ended and an initial result had already been
announced.
Based on the 164 councils which have reported, Labour, despite its
smaller share of overall votes cast, secured a total of 2,179 local
council seats, compared to the Conservatives' 1,643 and the Liberal
Democrats' 1,252.
In a simultaneous vote London Mayor Ken Livingstone clinched
re-election, giving Blair and his Labour Party a welcome relief from
the local council election drubbing.
The results of European parliamentary elections, also held on Thu,
will not be announced until after voting is completed in all 25 EU
member nations on Sun.
Voters give Blair "kicking" over Iraq
"It's a bad night for us, but it's not meltdown."
-- Home Secretary David Blunkett
London (Reuters). Voters angry over Iraq have punished PM Tony Blair,
relegating his Labour Party to an unprecedented third place in local
elections.
"Iraq was a cloud, or indeed a shadow, over these elections," Deputy
PM John Prescott said after the main opp'n Conservatives triumphed
along with the Liberal Democrats in results from Thu's vote.
"I am not saying we haven't had a kicking. It's not a great day for
Labour," said Prescott.
The local council poll outcome, likely to be echoed in European
Parliament results on Sun, will renew speculation about Blair's
leadership. The result of London's mayoral race later on Fri may also
weigh against Blair's handling of Iraq.
But analysts still believe Blair -- US Pres George W Bush's closest
ally over Iraq -- will win a 3rd general election, widely expected to
be held in 2005.
With results in from 144 of the 166 contested councils, his Labour
Party had lost a net 388 seats and control of 7 councils, including
its N strongholds of Newcastle and Leeds.
BBC projections put Labour's vote share at 26%, way behind the
Conservatives on 38%. The Liberal Democrats, strong opponents of the
Iraq war, had 30%.
* POLLSTERS STILL TIP BLAIR
"What you have got is a govt that is clearly unpopular, but a main
opp'n party that is not capitalising," said opinion pollster Peter Kellner.
He said the Conservatives needed 40% or more to be on course for
victory at the next general election.
The Conservatives, however, were upbeat.
"It has been Labour's worst electoral performance in living memory and
it is the 1st time that a govt has been pushed into third place in
mid-term elections," said Conservative chairman Liam Fox.
The results will heighten calls from some quarters for Blair to give
way to his powerful finance minister Gordon Brown.
Blair has said he is "up for" a 3rd general election bid and this
week's unanimous UN Sec Council resolution on Iraq offers the prospect
of some respite on a persistently damaging issue.
The Conservatives might have fared better were it not for a surge by
the previously marginal UK Independence Party (UKIP), which advocates
Brit's withdrawal from the European Union.
By 1530 GMT, the Conservatives had made gains of 208 seats and 11 councils.
The UKIP won its 1st council seats.
An opinion poll said the UKIP, tapping into Britons' wary view of
Europe, would win up to 12 of 78 Brit seats in the European Parliament
when the results were declared on Sun.
The Liberal Democrats, long Brit's 3rd party, benefited from their
opp'n to the Iraq war.
"Iraq cast a long shadow across these elections," party leader Charles
Kennedy said.
In London, Labour's Ken Livingstone is tipped to edge to re-election
as mayor, but he has wasted no chance to assert his independence from
Blair over issues such as Iraq.
A Livingstone win will say little about Blair's popularity. Labour's
overall battering will be placed squarely at his door.
But Blair still commands a huge majority in parliament.
"Blair is going to win the next general election because he starts
from such a strong position with a majority of 161," said Bob
Worcester, chairman of the MORI polling agency. "He is almost
invincible as he has so many safe Labour seats."
Canada's Conservatives now election front runners
Ottawa (Reuters). Canada's opp'n Conservatives became the
front-runners in a major poll for the 1st time in more than a decade
Fri in what commentators said was a catastrophe for Liberal PM Paul Martin.
More than halfway through the 36-day campaign for the June 28
election, the focus has shifted from whether Martin's Liberals would
lose their majority in Parliament to whether the Conservatives will
form the next govt.
"It is a catastrophe for Paul Martin," wrote commentator Denis Lessard
in Fri's La Presse newspaper, which commissioned the Ekos poll along
with the Toronto Star.
The poll showed 33.8% of decided voters would support the Conservatives
in an election, 30% would back the Liberals and 18.9% the leftist New
Democrats.
Fri, Martin conceded it would be a nail-biting race to the finish, and
he acknowledged that Canada is probably heading for a minority govt.
"It has been very tight for the last number of weeks. But the next two
wk are what this is all about and I'm really looking forward to it,"
he told journalists in Toronto.
Conservative leader Stephen Harper told more than 1,000 flag-waving
supporters in Ottawa Fri night: "There are no safe seats anymore for
the Liberals anywhere."
Martin trails the Conservatives in the former Liberal stronghold of
Ontario by 34 to 38% and is massively behind the separatist Bloc
Quebecois in the 2nd most populous province, Quebec, 22 to 54%.
He started the campaign by saying Harper's tax cuts would gut public
health care. He then attacked Harper's opp'n to gay marriage and many
Conservatives' opp'n to abortion.
Neither attack appears to have worked yet.
Fri, Martin showcased Canada's economic success under the Liberal govt
in which he served as finance minister.
"There are only 2 parties to form a govt. These 2 have profoundly
different concepts of what the country should be," he told a meeting
of women executives in Toronto.
He said Harper's plan to slash taxes and increase military spending
threatened to throw Canada back to high inflation, high unemployment
and dwindling internat'l prestige. "I know the numbers. His plan just
simply doesn't add up," he said.
Martin took power from fellow Liberal Jean Chretien last Dec, and
called an early election to get his own mandate, despite warnings that
he was in trouble in the polls.
Liberal support -- around 50% at the start of the y -- was undermined
by a govt spending scandal and a promise-breaking tax hike by the
Liberal Ontario govt.
Current projections are now for a Conservative minority where they
would need support from other parties for individual pieces of
legislation. But if the Conservatives keep gaining ground, they might
be able to govern alone.
"It's astonishing that we have a prospect of a Conservative Party
majority coming into focus," Ekos pollster Andrew Sullivan said.
Though some strategists have cautioned against sounding too victorious,
Harper said Fri candidates on his team would "be part of a nat'l
Conservative majority govt."
To try to arrest his spiral, Martin has launched attack ads including
one showing the Canadian flag disintegrating under Conservative rule
-- drawing a charge from Martin that they were using the flag to
"score cheap political points."
Harper has fostered an image of a bland accountant, but someone who
can be trusted where Liberals cannot. He says more money for health is
possible at the same time as tax cuts and he has pledged not to
introduce abortion legislation.
Blair defiant despite Labour pains
London (ABC, Fran Kelly and AFP). Brit voters have punished the
ruling Labour Party for supporting the war in Iraq, in the biggest
test of voter opinion before next year's general election.
It is the worst result in living memory for Labour: coming 3rd in
local council elections behind the Conservatives and the Liberal
Democrats.
Labour lost more than 400 councillors and 7 local councils, including
traditional Labour strongholds like Newcastle.
The Tories have had a big win under their new leader, Michael Howard,
taking control of an extra 11 councils.
Cabinet ministers have described the result as mortifying and Prime
Min Tony Blair has conceded the shadow of Iraq is evident in the result.
However, Mr Blair has pledged to pursue his policies on Iraq and
public services despite the big losses.
From Washington, Mr Blair said: "It's a question of holding our nerve
and seeing it through and realising that, yes, Iraq has been an
immensely difficult decision.
"In respect of the basic performance of the Govt, our response should
be to make sure we carry through and implement the radical program we
have introduced."
Brit Foreign Secretary Jack Straw acknowledges the local election
results are a protest against his Govt's policy on Iraq.
"These are disappointing results for the Labour Party," he said.
"There's no question that Iraq has been a shadow hanging over the
campaign and since the Conservatives actively supported our position
on Iraq and the Liberal Democrats have been campaigning on Iraq almost
exclusively, this is not surprising.
"Those people who have been unhappy about our position on Iraq have
regarded the Liberal Democrats as the repository of their protest."
Results of the European Parliament elections are still to come but
Labour is expected to fare badly there too and this result could
increase the pressure on Mr Blair from within Labour ranks to move
aside for Chancellor Gordon Brown.
Latham finds no succour in Brit vote
Mark Latham ... no encouragement from election results in Brit.
Canberra. Fed Opp'n leader Mark Latham says he takes no encouragement
from election results in Brit, where voters have punished the ruling
Labour Party for supporting the war in Iraq.
Labour has finished 3rd in local council elections behind the
Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, its worst result in living memory.
Brit Prime Min Tony Blair and For Sec Jack Straw have both
acknowledged the shadow of Iraq is evident in the result.
Despite his opp'n to the war in Iraq, Mr Latham says he does not find
the result encouraging.
Mr Latham, who is in Bris to address the Qld ALP conference, says the
result will not necessarily translate to the upcoming fed election.
"It doesn't give me heart to see the Labour Party defeated anywhere in
the world," he said. "These are things for the Brit people to sort out
in their own democracy and how they vote in local elections is up to them.
"In AUS, the Aussie people make up their own mind and that's the way
it should be in our democracy."
Labour in Brit lost more than 400 councillors and 7 local councils,
including traditional Labour strongholds like Newcastle.
* Mortifying
The Tories have had a big win under their new leader, Michael Howard,
taking control of an extra 11 councils.
Cabinet ministers have described the result as mortifying but Mr Blair
has pledged to pursue his policies on Iraq and public services despite
the big losses.
From Washington, Mr Blair said: "It's a question of holding our nerve
and seeing it through and realising that, yes, Iraq has been an
immensely difficult decision.
"In respect of the basic performance of the Govt, our response should
be to make sure we carry through and implement the radical program we
have introduced."
Mr Straw acknowledges the election results are a protest against his
Govt's policy on Iraq.
"These are disappointing results for the Labour Party," he said.
"There's no question that Iraq has been a shadow hanging over the
campaign and since the Conservatives actively supported our position
on Iraq and the Liberal Democrats have been campaigning on Iraq almost
exclusively, this is not surprising.
"Those people who have been unhappy about our position on Iraq have
regarded the Liberal Democrats as the repository of their protest."
Results of the European Parliament elections are still to come but
Labour is expected to fare badly there too and this result could
increase the pressure on Mr Blair from within Labour ranks to move
aside for Chancellor Gordon Brown.
Berlusconi's SMS to voters angers Opp'n
Rome (Reuters). Opp'n parties in Italy have reacted angrily to the
sending of a phone text message to mn of voters by the office of Prime
Min Silvio Berlusconi. The message reminds Italians of the European
elections this weekend. When polls open later today, all 30 mn of
Italy's mobile phone owners should have received it. But political
opponents say the text message is a violation of privacy laws and say
Mr Berlusconi is using a marketing gimmick to persuade people to vote
for him. Elections for the European Parliament have already been held
in Brit, the Netherlands and Ireland. Voters in the remaining EU
member states will go to the polls over the next 2 days.
Coup attempt in Congo put down by troops
Kinshasa, Congo (AP). Forces loyal to Congo's leader crushed a coup
attempt Fri by renegades within his own presidential guard in fighting
that sent gunfire and explosions echoing through the capital of
Africa's third-largest nation.
The crisis was the 2nd this m for the 14-mo govt led by Pres Joseph
Kabila, established to close a 1998-2002 war that was Africa's
deadliest ever.
Kabila, appearing on state TV in khaki uniform hours after the
uprising's leaders were sent fleeing, told Congolese to brace for
future challenges.
"Stay calm, prepare yourself to resist -- because I will allow nobody
to try a coup d'etat or to throw off course our peace process," Kabila
declared.
"As for me, I'm fine," added the 32-yo president, whose appearance
quashed rumours he had been injured or killed.
At stake was the stability of Congo, and with it central Africa.
Congo's 5-y war had drawn in the armies of 5 foreign African
countries, splitting a nation that before the war was one of the
world's largest mineral producers, including the No 3 exporter of
rough diamonds and holder of 80% of the globe's cobalt reserves.
Relief workers say the war killed 3.3 mn people.
By late afternoon, the officer behind Fri's attempted coup was on the
run S of the capital with 21 of his men, pursued by loyalist troops
backed by helicopter, presidential rep Kadura Kasonga said.
The officer, Maj Eric Lenge, had been a trusted aide frequently
photographed behind Kabila at official functions, including Kabila's
2001 inauguration -- which followed the assassination of Kabila's
father by his own presidential bodyguards.
Lenge launched the coup attempt by commandeering state broadcast
centres after midnight. He announced he was "neutralising" the
transition govt.
Condemning Kabila's govt as ineffective, Lenge appealed to members of
Congo's armed forces to stay in their barracks and accede to the takeover.
Loyalist forces routed Lenge and his fighters from the broadcast HQ,
sending the mutineers retreating to a presidential guard base in the capital.
Info Min Vitale Kamerhe then appeared on state airwaves before dawn to
declare "the situation entirely under control," without a shot fired.
Some of Lenge's forces later appeared in the heart of the capital, on
foot and in 2 tanks and an armoured personnel carrier crowded with
troops, diplomats said -- allegedly trying unsuccessfully to surrender
to either the US or Brit embassies or Congo's UN mission.
Most of Congo's sprawling capital, Kinshasa, appeared to have slept
through the immediate attempt to seize power.
Heavy automatic weapon fire and tank-cannon blasts woke up the city
around daybreak, however.
Diplomats said loyalist forces were battling the dissident forces at
their barracks. Diplomats and residents also reported heavy gunfire
around Kabila's private residence.
Congo govt and military leaders described Lenge and his followers
breaking out of the base and fleeing, 1st to Kinshasa's internat'l
airport and then to the S of the city, toward the Bas Congo region.
Security forces had arrested 12 of the fleeing men, Kabila said on
state TV.
It was unclear how many troops took part in the failed coup.
Accounts by officials ranged from 20 to the low 100s.
Diplomats said the dissident forces expressed grievances about pay, in
partial or full arrears by the govt for months.
The coup attempt was the 2nd military uprising against the postwar
govt, after a previous 5 y of peace in the capital.
In March, 100s of troops attacked military installations in a capital
uprising also linked by some accounts to grievances over pay.
Loyalist forces crushed that uprising as well.
Fri's coup attempt came 2 days after govt forces to the east re-took a
town on Rwanda's border from renegade ex-rebel fighters.
Capture of Bukavu after the seven-day takeover had ended the greatest
military crisis for the postwar govt, trying to secure a country the size
of W Europe ahead of promised 2005 elections. A ceremony Fri installed
a new govt-appointed governor for Bukavu's restive S Kivu province.
In Kinshasa, shops remained closed long hours after the attempt, and
relatively few people ventured on to the streets. Those who did,
expressed alarm at the increasing series of challenges to the govt.
"This worries me a lot because we need peace in our country," said
Komanda Gode, 40, a fisherman. "So when such things happen, it isn't
good for our country.
UN Sec-Gen Kofi Annan condemned the attempted coup and restated "the
commitment of the UN" for the transitional process in Congo.
Coup ringleader flees Congo capital
Kinshasa (Reuters). The Congolese Govt says the ringleader of an
attempted coup has fled the capital, Kinshasa. A rep for the
Congolese Pres Joseph Kabila says Maj Eric Lenge and a band of around
20 supporters are being chased S by security forces. Maj Lenge was
one of a group of dissident soldiers in the president's personal
guard. Pres Kabila has since appeared on television to reassure the
country that he is still in control.
Spain wants to extradite alleged bombing 'mastermind'
Madrid (Reuters). Spain will seek the extradition from Italy of an
Egyptian man suspected of planning the March 11 Madrid bomb attacks
that killed 191 people, officials say.
Italian prosecutors welcomed the request but said the suspect might
also stand trial in Italy.
Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, also known as "Mohamed the Egyptian", was
arrested in Milan on Tue.
Spain called him "one of the masterminds" of the Madrid attacks
carried out 3 days before a general election.
"The Cabinet has decided to request the extradition of Rabei Osman
Sayed Ahmed, known as the Egyptian, to whom very important responsibility
is assigned for his acts in the terrorist murders of March 11," Deputy
PM Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega told a news conference.
Authorities have said the bombings were the work of Islamic militants
acting in the name of Al Qaeda, and a Spanish judge has accused 20
people in the case, 16 of them Moroccans.
Spanish police said they arrested 2 more Spanish suspects on Fri on
suspicion of playing a role in stealing the dynamite used to make the
bombs, which were packed in sports bags and left aboard the trains.
Fri's detention of 2 miners follow the arrest of 6 other Spaniards on
Wed on suspicion of helping provide the explosives, which were taken
from a mine in the N region of Asturias.
Milan prosecutor Armando Spataro said the extradition request could
arrive as soon as Mon and called it "comforting news".
The request was required because Italy has not implemented a European
arrest warrant, which aims to speed the hand-over of suspects between
EU states.
"[Ahmed] will of course remain under investigation in Italy too, so he
will also have to be tried here," Mr Spataro said.
Spanish prosecutors are expected to seek accusations against Ahmed for
at least 190 murders and 1,400 attempted murders.
Italian and Spanish authorities said they feared the suspect was
preparing a new attack.
Spain's Interior Ministry called Ahmed a "a figure of extreme
importance" in Al Qaeda's European network.
Judicial sources said he trained as an explosive expert in the
Egyptian army and gave classes at Al Qaeda training camps in
Afghanistan before the US invasion of 2001.
Before the bombings he was under investigation by a high court judge
as part of a wider probe into Islamic radicals in Spain, but police
lost track of him, judicial sources said.
Ahmed recruited followers at 2 Madrid mosques, where he met Serhane
ben Abdelmajid Farkhet, also known as "The Tunisian", who a judge has
identified as the jihadist ringleader of the Madrid bombing team.
Bosnian Serbs admit to Srebrenica massacre
Sarajevo (BBC). Bosnian Serb authorities have made the 1st official
admission that their forces took part in the murder of 1000s of Muslim
men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995. The admission came in the report
of a Govt commission set up to investigate the massacre -- the worst
atrocity in Europe since World War II. The commission concluded there
were 3 planned phases to the Bosnian Serb military operation around
Srebrenica in July 1995. The 3 phases were the attack on the town,
the separation of women and children and the execution of the men. It
says several thousand Muslims were killed in what was a grave
violation of internat'l humanitarian law. The commission's report
says Bosnian Serb military and police units, as well as special units
of the Ministry of Interior, participated in the murders.
"Al Qaeda" slams Middle E plans
Dubai (Reuters). An audio tape purportedly of Ayman Al Zawahiri has
attacked planned changes in the Middle East.
An Arabic television network has broadcast an audio tape purportedly
of a top Al Qaeda leader criticising a proposal for changes in the
Middle E as a US ploy and saying change would only come through "resistance".
Al Arabiya television broadcast the brief recording which it said was
from Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Zawahiri is an Egyptian militant who Washington says played a major
role in the Sep 2001 attacks on the US.
"America has nothing to do with reform, what it really wants is to
replace the current regimes with new ones," the voice on the tape said.
"These supposed American reforms will not bring us independence or
dignity ... the real reform process starts from within us, with
planting the spirit of resistance in our souls, in the souls of our
children and of future generations."
It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the tape but it
appeared to be recorded after Washington's Greater Middle E Initiative
was leaked out in Feb.
Al Qaeda has vowed to topple most Arab leaders, who it sees as
traitors and lackeys of the US.
The United States and other G8 members heavily rewrote much of the
initiative during a summit last wk.
They re-branded it as the Partnership for Progress and a Common Future
with the Region of the Broader Middle E and N Africa.
Arab govts saw the original proposals as part of an intrusive and
paternalistic US plan to reorganise the region to suit US and Israeli
interests.
Many Arab leaders had slammed it and shunned the G8 summit in the US
because the proposal was on the agenda.
Life sentence likely for Oklahoma bombing conspirator
OKC (Reuters). An Oklahoma jury has ended 3 days of deliberations
deadlocked, denying prosecutors their request to execute Oklahoma City
bombing conspirator Terry Nichols. It is now up to a judge to
sentence him to life in prison. Judge Steven Taylor will rule at a
later date whether Nichols should receive a life sentence with the
possibility of parole or life without the possibility of parole. The
same Oklahoma jury convicted Nichols last m on 161 murder counts for
his role in the deadly 1995 of a fed building in Oklahoma City.
Italy denies Iraq ransom claims
"The hostages were in effect handed over to the Americans".
-- Gino Strada
Rome (BBC). The Italian govt has demanded to see evidence A heated
controversy has erupted in Italy after the head of a charity alleged
that a ransom was paid to free 3 Italian captives in Iraq.
Opp'n politicians have questioned the timing of the operation, which
came in the run-up to the European polls.
The happy ending to the hostages' 2-m ordeal is expected to win votes
for the govt coalition.
But the Italian govt has issued a firm denial, reiterating that no
ransom has been paid.
"The liberation of the hostages has taken place thanks to a military
operation of coalition special forces... without a ransom being paid,"
the office of PM Silvio Berlusconi said in a statement.
* 'Propaganda'
The claims were also denied by the head of the Italian Red Cross in
Iraq, Maurizio Scelli, one of Italy's key negotiators.
"Neither the govt, nor the secret services, nor the embassy paid any
ransom," he said.
Salvatore Stefio, 34, Umberto Cupertino, 35, and Maurizio Agliana, 37,
were freed on 9 June.
Gino Strada, a founder of the medical charity Emergency, had been
leading one of several attempts to negotiate their release.
He says that the 3 were close to being freed "with no conditions" --
but eventually someone agreed to pay a $9m ransom on behalf of the
Italian authorities.
"The hostages were in effect handed over to the Americans," he told
the daily newspaper La Repubblica.
The paper itself accused the govt of using the release as "election
propaganda".
* Quick exit
The fact that not a single shot was fired in the operation has been
confirmed by the accounts of the 3 Italians and one Pole, who was
being held captive in the same hideout.
On his return to Poland after being freed, Jerzy Kos said that
everything was over in 3 minutes.
Separately, one of the Italians, Umberto Cupertino, was reported as telling
his brother that his captors said "go, go, go", encouraging the prisoners
to get out quickly when the coalition forces stormed the building.
Mr Strada's claim has angered the govt, which says it conducted a
successful operation without giving in to the captors' demands.
The 3 Italian security guards were kidnapped on 12 Apr along with a
4th Italian man, who was later killed.
Torture complaint ignored: records
Washington (AP). At least 5 American soldiers objected last fall to
abuses they saw at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. One demanded to
be reassigned, saying the behaviour he witnessed there "made me sick
to my stomach".
Up the chain of command, the noncommissioned officers who heard such
complaints did little to stop the mistreatment, according to army
records obtained by The Associated Press.
One of those same NCOs, Staff Sgt Ivan L "Chip" Frederick, is accused
of stomping on prisoners' toes and punching another prisoner so hard
in the chest that he remarked, "I think I might have put him in
cardiac arrest". Frederick is among 6 soldiers facing courts-martial.
Another soldier pleaded guilty last m.
The military's full-blown investigation into beatings and humiliations
at Abu Ghraib began in Jan, after one soldier wrote an anonymous letter
to superior officers about troubling photographs. That soldier, Spc
Joe Darby, came forward later to talk to army investigators and
eventually became known as the whistle-blower who uncovered the scandal.
Internal army documents show that others, too, condemned the abuse
they saw at the prison, although their complaints failed to prevent
further mistreatment.
A diminutive platoon leader, Sgt 1st Class Shannon Snider, once barked
so loudly at soldiers stomping on prisoners' toes that one witness
later told investigators, "I never thought that voice could come out
of somebody so little." Then Snider left the room and the abuse
continued, the records say.
The fact that earlier complaints apparently went nowhere adds to the
uncertainty over a key question in the Abu Ghraib scandal: Did
superior military police or intel officers encourage or condone the
abuses?
A report from Army Maj Gen Antonio Taguba says yes. Taguba wrote that
cmdrs of both the military police and intel troops at the prison knew
or should have known about the abuse.
His report also says military intel officers unsuccessfully pressured
one military dog handler to sic his animal on prisoners.
Some of the 6 enlisted soldiers awaiting trial will try to use that
command inaction as part of their defence. Since other soldiers got
little response to repeated objections to abusive practices, the
defence lawyers will argue, those involved in the mistreatment figured
it was approved by cmdrs.
"It's telling that another person ... did complain to their superior
officer and was told, 'There's nothing wrong. You have to go
forward'," said Mary Rose Zapor, a lawyer for PFC Lynndie England, one
of the accused soldiers. "Had my client known she could complain, it
wouldn't have made any difference."
How to lose friends and alienate people in Iraq
Sheikhs seem to hold the key to success in Iraq, but the US has put key tribal
figures offside.
[This is an edited extract from Quarterly Essay: "Mission Impossible:
The Sheikhs, the US and the Future of Iraq].
Baghdad (The Age). The country beyond Ramadi flattens out like a
cracker biscuit. A six-lane desert highway stretches westward, all the
way to Jordan. At times it crosses ribbons of green that sketch the
route of irrigation canals; in other places it detours around scenes
of battle-charred tanks and trucks, broken bridges and decapitated
date palms.
Before the war, the 4wd would head N for a couple of km, taking a
sandy track over the railroad and away from "the big house". When it
paused briefly at a junction on the Jordan highway, the tribal sheikh
behind the wheel was taking his life into his hands. Literally.
When Malik Abdul Karim al-Kharbit turned left, he was going to
Amman. It meant that as one of the more powerful tribal leaders in all
of Iraq, he was putting his family and his business empire on the
line. He was headed for the Jordanian capital, about 800 km away,
where he would betray Saddam Hussein in secret meetings with US intel agents.
Under the cover of social engagements with snr govt officials and
sometimes with the king of Jordan himself, Sheikh Malik delivered
priceless info that had been fed to him by members of his Kharbit clan
and by others at all levels of Saddam's military and security
apparatus. An official who attended some of these de-briefings was
emphatic: "Malik was very much Washington's man in Iraq."
Now Sheikh Malik is dead, but it wasn't Saddam Hussein who killed him
-- it was the Americans. In the avalanche of reporting that marked the
collapse of Baghdad early in Apr 2003, little attention was paid to a
statement from the US Central Command claiming the US had bombed the
home of Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti, a half-brother to Saddam
Hussein and former head of Iraqi intel. The attack was on Apr 11, 2
days after the demolition of the great Saddam statue in
Baghdad. Reporters were told that 6 smart bombs had hammered into a
house nr Ramadi, in the centre of Iraq. There was speculation that
Barzan was dead -- that a joker had gone from the Americans'
"most-wanted" deck of cards.
We are ashamed that it was the US ... who toppled Saddam. We are
Arabs and we have a custom that does not allow outsiders to kill our
enemies.But when US Central Command announced later that Barzan was
alive and had just been captured in the capital, no questions were
asked. Barzan did have a stake in a poultry farm W of Ramadi, which
locals said had been bombed by the US on Apr 4, but he was not known
to have a house nearby. The only American attack nr the town, on Apr
11, was 13 km further west, and the target was the big house, Sheikh
Malik's family home. The result was an atrocity that in the roiling
Iraq crisis went virtually unreported; 22 civilians died, mostly women
and children, almost all of them Malik's immediate relatives. They
died as 6 powerful explosions tore his home apart.
It had been one of the most imposing homes in the region. When I was
there, the sight of the sandwiched concrete slabs, once the floors,
compelled me into the rubble. The shredded remains of a woman's gold
embroidered blouse lay tangled in broken cinder-blocks; shattered
ceramic tiles were littered among the foam stuffing ripped from a
couch; there was a smiling Barbie doll in a yellow polka-dot dress,
the heat of the blast fusing her blonde hair with the mangled plastic
of an electrical fitting; and here were the children's charred school books.
I went to Ramadi towards the end of the Iraqi summer of 2003, seeking
but not quite believing the story of Malik's death. But the
recollections of a young man named Fahal Abdul Hamid, a nephew of the
dead sheikh, made the events of a terrible night all too real: "It was
2am and the house was crowded -- more than 50 people ... Most of the
men were in another building watching the war on satellite TV. There
was a blast of light and a fog of dust; it was hard to breathe. I went
towards the big house but not much of it was left. More than half of
the victims were kids under the age of nine; Malik's six-mo daughter
was never found; his mother, his wife, his sister and 4 of his nieces
died; I found my younger brother -- dead. We thought we'd be safe
because ... we believed the Americans had to know where Malik
was. We have houses in Jordan, Syria and Egypt. We could have gone
anywhere but we chose to stay because the sheikh should be among his
people when times are hard."
Months after the US strike, chaos still gripped the clan. The new
sheikh, Malik's 33-yo brother Hamad, had not yet come to terms with
the death in the bombing of 4 of his daughters, all under the age of
5, and the loss of his only son, aged 2. For the time being, it had
fallen to Sheikh Abdul Hamid, the father of Fahal, to hold things
together by stepping in to act as leader of the Kharbit clan.
Malik, by all accounts, was a man of rare qualities. By tradition, the
eldest son of a sheikh assumes the leadership on the death of his
father, but Malik was handpicked as a child by his father ahead of his
older brothers and groomed for leadership. 35 y old when he died, he
was a shrewd tribal chief and businessman.
Family members offered a litany of reasons for the sheikh's decision
to become a US agent: the regime was frustrating his business plans;
he was tired of the suffering of ordinary Iraqis after more than a
decade of UN sanctions; most of all, he was tired of Saddam.
The symbolic heart of an Iraqi tribe is its mudhef. It is here that
the sheikh holds his daily court, dispensing largesse and receiving
troubled tribesmen, passers-by and visiting dignitaries. To enter what
was once Sheikh Malik's mudhef is to step into another world, a
parallel universe to the one in which the Bush Admin struggles to
manipulate a Rubik's Cube of Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish elements,
hoping to resolve them into a democratic whole. As the US focuses on
its self-appointed task, around it, unseen, are the pillars of an
ancient tribal society that, along with religious crossbeams of equal
strength and proportions, are likely to doom the American quest. When
I visited Malik's mudhef, a feast was produced even though I had
arrived unannounced and it was the middle of the day. Fahal, the nephew
of the dead sheikh, pointed to the steel doors, making what turned out
to be a tribal declaration of survival: "This mudhef is always open."
It is still not clear how, let alone why, the Americans came to
destroy one of their key sources of info about Saddam and his regime.
It seemed incredible to me that someone who had already been so useful
to the Americans, and who could have been even more useful in advising
them how best to gain some degree of acceptance in the most hostile
territory in Iraq, could be killed without so much as an apology. Was
it simply a colossal blunder? Perhaps. Yet Malik's death opens a
window on to the American attempt to impose its version of democracy
in a lonely place where it needs all the friends it can get.
Sheikh Abdul Hamid, the man who temporarily took over leadership of
the tribe in the m after the attack, had his own theory about the
bombing. He did not blame the Americans. His son, Fahal, a 29-yo
business studies graduate, translated a classic tale of power and envy
in the desert: "There are people here who want us out of the equation
because we are a strong family," he said. "Knowing that the Americans
would bomb, they told them that Saddam was on our property. We know
who they are, and we don't believe that the Americans are our enemies."
The sheikh became too distressed to continue, and Fahal concluded his
father's story. "At 1st we felt this huge, devastating rage. But dad
is working to divert the anger -- this family has not been targeted by
the US, but by some of the local sheikhs who don't want us here. They
are not of our clan but they are of our tribe. So we must prove that
even though Malik and the others are dead, this mudhef is always
open. The family is alive -- we are still here and we are strong."
In the new Iraq, the US is caught in pincers of its own making,
between the tribes and the mosque. The Americans thought that both of
these powers could be ignored as they dreamily set about crafting a
secular Admin that would be dominated by the hand-picked exiles
Washington had airlifted into the country as the dust of war settled.
They feared that if liberated Iraqis were left to their own devices,
the mullahs would demand an Iranian-style theocracy and the tribesmen
would emulate the Afghan warlords with whom the US was still wrestling
further to the east. These assumptions denied many tribal leaders a
seat at the table. The decision to exclude them has come at a huge cost.
Iraqis use the same word for the men who wield tribal and religious
power -- sheikh -- and it is these leaders who are manipulating war
and politics as the Americans dig themselves deeper into the
mire. Much of the most violent resistance to the US occupation comes
from the minority Sunni tribes of central Iraq, while with one
critical exception, the religious leadership of the majority Shiite
population, in the south, has resisted the temptation to resort to
violence and instead fights with remarkable political skill to thwart
US designs for their new govt. The date, June 30, rapidly approaches
when the US will return to Iraqis a highly qualified sovereign power
over their country. In Iraq and the Middle East, there are academics
and experts in the service of govts -- Arabic and American -- who
argue that the men in white robes have the power to scale back, if not
to end, the bloody resistance that cripples the rebuilding of
Iraq. Several analysts argue that the sheikhs' tolerance of the deadly
attacks on the US, and their sheltering of the fugitive Saddam Hussein
until his capture in Dec 2003, were a bid to win US recognition of
their traditional leadership role in Iraqi society -- and their role
as keepers of the peace. They argue that it is the sheikhs, not the US
forces, who will create a secure environment needed for the
reconstruction of Iraq. It follows that if they are ignored, they have
the power to wreck any US designs for Iraq.
The sheikhs deny all of this, with a wave of their white-cuffed hands.
Nevertheless, a striking continuity in more than half a dozen
interviews with tribal sheikhs across the Sunni triangle and the
Shiite S -- both self-proclaimed friends and foes of Washington -- was
the consistent refusal to condemn violence against the US forces in
Iraq. In Malik's mudhef at Ramadi, Sheikh Abdul Hamid seemed to want
to duck the issue altogether, when he told me: "I can't tell you what
will happen with the resistance -- you ask the Iraqi people." But then
he complicated what might have been a straight answer to a simple
question: "This is a trick question, because it suggests that we are
behind the resistance." His protests sounded even more hollow when
others revealed that on the previous day he had presided over a
meeting of sheikhs to deal with a Turkish business delegation that
wanted to bid for reconstruction contracts in the area. The Turks
wanted the sheikhs' protection for their men and equipment. I was
told: "They decided that if they allowed the Turks to come here, they
would be seen to be working with the US and to be in favour of the
occupation. So the sheikhs said no."
In Khalidiyah, W of Baghdad, it's a war of nerves. A crater 3 metres
deep marks the explosion of a careering car-bomb that the local police
knew was inevitable; and just across and down a highway that cuts
through this small town between Ramadi and Fallujah was the home of a
man the US suspected could help end these relentless attacks, a tribal
sheikh by the name of Fanar al-Kharbit, a cousin of the deceased
Sheikh Malik.
There is little doubt that as a tribal leader in the Sunni hotbed
between Ramadi and Fallujah, Sheikh Fanar is a man who knows more than
he lets on. The US had him figured as a source of "actionable intel",
but they didn't have enough to pull him in. Tanks rumbled into his
walled compound on the banks of the Euphrates River 7 times in Dec
2003, soldiers tumbling out to rummage through his home. The sheikh is
still full of hard talk, but those who know him said that at the time
of the raids he was reduced to a shadow of his former self. Once one
of the richest men in Iraq, he used to strut in crisp traditional
dress and hobnob with the most snr elements of the regime; Saddam
Hussein was a frequent guest at his table until a falling-out over
business in the early '90s. When we 1st met a few m into the US
occupation, however, he was ill-kempt and gaunt.
It is impossible to verify the seemingly fantastic stories told to me
by this embittered man. However, Sheikh Fanar detailed the activities
of his family in going abroad to meet US agents and spiriting CIA
operatives into Iraq under the guise of visiting American
businessmen. He also described a tribal plot to hijack 8 Iraqi air
force bombers for an attack on Saddam's palaces as a prelude to a coup
only days before the US-led invasion on March 20, 2003.
Sheikh Fanar would not reveal the details of his cousin Malik's
meetings with US agents in Jordan, but he said the 2 of them were part
of a group of sheikhs who had concluded that Saddam was finished --
yet they wanted Iraqis, not foreigners, to bring him down. The CIA had
initiated the contact with Sheikh Malik and in 1998 and again in 2000
the family's business vehicles were used several times to ferry CIA
agents from the Jordan-Iraq border to Baghdad for secret meetings with
snr Iraqis, including vice-president Tariq Aziz, and the head of the
secret service.
He described a series of frenetic meetings -- in Fallujah, Baghdad, at
the Habania air force base, nr his home -- as plans for the coup came together.
He said: "We had the pilots prepared -- they would bomb the palaces
and the TV station. When the US invasion started, we were still
negotiating with some of the army generals to mount ground attacks on
the palaces and to maintain law and order in Baghdad in the aftermath
of our bombings. We had a special mobile radio station that was to
keep the people informed but it all needed a few more wk to make it happen."
Fanar and Malik were so confident in their belief that Saddam Hussein
could be talked into surrendering that they made contact with the
American units then advancing on Baghdad from the west. Fanar said
that, "we asked the Americans for 3 days to allow us to change the
regime. We received a message that they would give us the time but on
the 2nd of the 3 days the Americans entered Baghdad. Liars!"
But hadn't the Americans achieved their objective? Wasn't Saddam gone?
Sheikh Fanar went to the nub of the issue for many Iraqis: "We are
ashamed that it was the US, not Iraqis, who toppled Saddam. We are
Arabs and we have a custom that does not allow outsiders to kill our
enemies. This occupation is a cause for great shame for all
Iraqis. The Americans did what Iraqis should have done and they are
still here to remind us of it.
"In the 1st few m relations with the US were friendly but now they are
trying to provoke me," Fanar told me in another meeting. He pointed to
the charred remains of reed beds by the Euphrates that he had been
ordered to burn so that he might be observed from US watch posts on a
nearby bridge. "They are stupid, because they are listening to their
spies who say bad things about me. I'm not a part of the resistance,
but those who are are just protecting their country. This is not
liberation, it is an occupation. People are very tired after Saddam's
3 wars. I'm worried if the Americans keep attacking me that my tribe
will react, but for now I have told my people not to cause trouble."
It was difficult to gauge the truth of Fanar's insistence that he was
not a part of the resistance. I had concluded that he was.
Fanar refuses to name the sheikh he believes shopped him and his
family to the Americans, but around the time of Saddam's capture he
told associates of his own campaign of low-level retaliation. He had
sent the sheikh in question a gift of a black abaya, the unflattering
head-to-toe garment worn by conservative Iraqi women, along with
several lipsticks. When I last visited Fanar al-Kharbit at his home at
Khalidiyah in the autumn of 2003, he seemed prepared to keep punching.
"I've told the Americans to get out of my neighbourhood. They wouldn't
be here if I was a leader of the mujahideen ... and if they keep
going like this a lot more US soldiers will die."
The last I heard of Sheikh Fanar was this Apr, when Salam, the
translator who accompanied me to the sheikh's home, reported that he
had seen Fanar on the Arab news service, al-Jazeera. He had been
speaking on behalf of the fighters at Fallujah.
This was proof indeed of a great loss to the American occupation forces.
Here was a man whose tribe and family had actively worked with the US
against Saddam, who had risked their lives for Washington's Iraq
agenda, but who in our last meeting had told me that he was duty-bound
to seek revenge for the death of his cousin.
Sadr calls for cease-fire in Najaff
Najaff (BBC). Radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr has urged
his supporters to stop attacking Iraqi security forces in the city of
Najaff. In a sermon delivered in the nearby city of Kufa, he also gave
his conditional support to the interim Iraqi govt. This reversed his
earlier rejection of the body which he condemned as a puppet of the
US. His political about-turn comes amid signs from the interim govt
that it may disregard moves by the outgoing US administrator in Iraq,
Paul Bremer, to ban Sadr and other radicals from taking part in
politics for 3 y.
Iraq cleric "calls for new start"
The Shia militants have been holding Najaff's sprawling cemetery
Najaff (BBC). Radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr has issued conditional
support for the interim Iraqi govt, which he earlier rejected as a US puppet.
In a sermon at Fri prayers in the town of Kufa, he also urged his
supporters to stop attacking Iraqi security forces.
Mr Sadr, a firebrand whose militia has fought US forces since March,
also called for an end to conflict.
But his supporters clashed with members of a pro-US faction in nearby Najaff.
Stones and shoes were thrown in the clash at the shrine of Imam Ali
leaving several people injured and forcing the cancellation of Fri prayers.
In a sermon read out by his rep, Mr Sadr called upon the interim govt
to work to end the occupation according to a timetable set by Iraqi
officials, reported a correspondent for Voice of Mujahidin radio
present at the sermon.
Mr Sadr added that the formation of the govt was a good opportunity to
bury past differences and "forge ahead toward the building of a
unified Iraq".
The sermon in general was conciliatory, the BBC's David Bamford says.
He says Mr Sadr called on the military Mehdi Army supporters to honour
the truce agreed in Najaff on 4 June -- to stop attacks on Iraqi
security forces who have now taken over the role of security in the
city from US troops who have withdrawn.
There has not been any official reaction to Mr Sadr's speech in Kufa,
where he delivers fiery Fri sermons at the main mosque every week.
The US-led coalition accuses him of killing Abdul Majid al-Khoei, a
moderate Shia leader shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.
* Najaff battles
Hopes of bringing an end to the conflict with Mr Sadr's faction were
not improved on Fri, when scuffles forced the closure of the Imam Ali
shrine in Najaff for the 1st time during weekly congregational prayers
since the US-led invasion in 2003.
On Wed night and Thu Mr Sadr's followers had clashed with Iraqi police
in Najaff -- less than a wk after police began patrols under a truce
between the militia and US troops.
At least 6 people were killed in the fighting, including police
officers, militants and 2 civilians. Another 29 people were injured,
including children.
On Fri morning 100s of supporters of the Supreme Council for Islamic
Revolution in Iraq (Sciri) marched towards the Imam Ali Shrine to
express support for the truce.
Sadr supporters blocked their way, and fistfights broke out and
missiles were thrown.
One top Sciri official was reportedly wounded in the head during the
confrontation.
The area surrounding the sacred compound is still controlled by Sadr
militiamen despite the week-old truce under which they have withdrawn
from the rest of the city.
Shiite groups clash in Najaff
Baghdad (ABC, Matt Brown). Rival Shiite groups have clashed at one of
Islam's holiest sites, the Imam Ali Mosque in Iraq's holy city of
Najaff. Prayer services at the mosque were cancelled for the 1st time
since the Iraq war began, when followers of rebel Shiite leader
Moqtada al Sadr started throwing stones and shoes at members of a
rival group. A snr official from the mainstream Supreme Council for
the Islamic Revolution in Iraq was injured. Council officials have
repeatedly called for Sadr's followers to leave Najaff. A rep for Sadr
says members of both groups were responsible for the confrontation.
Sadr's Mehdi Army still controls the area around the mosque, 2 months
after they began an uprising against US forces.
NY A-G subpoenas 3 insurers
NY (Reuters). 3 big US insurers said on Fri they received subpoenas
this wk from NY A-G Eliot Spitzer in his probe of incentives paid to
insurance brokers.
The insurers, Aetna Inc, Cigna Corp and MetLife Inc, join several
others recently subpoenaed by Spitzer. Aetna and Cigna are 2 of the
largest health insurers. MetLife is the largest life insurer.
Spitzer is investigating whether the fees insurers pay brokers to sell
their products constitute a fair business practice or pose a conflict
of interest.
Brokers say the fee agreements are a long-standing, common practice in
the industry and are disclosed to clients. A public advocacy group,
the Washington Legal Foundation, says the fees might compromise
brokers' fiduciary duties to their clients.
Aetna rep David Carter and MetLife rep Christopher Breslin said their
companies would cooperate fully with the inquiry.
Cigna rep Wendell Potter said his company would also cooperate. Aetna
is based in Hartford, Connecticut, Cigna in Philadelphia, and MetLife
in NY.
Other insurers that received subpoenas are Chubb Corp and Hartford
Financial Services Group Inc In Apr, the 3 largest insurance brokers
-- Marsh & McLennan Cos, Aon Corp and Willis Group Holdings Ltd --
said they received subpoenas.
Rep John Penshorn at Minneapolis-based UnitedHealth Group Inc, the
largest US health insurer, and rep Joe Norton at NY-based American
Internat'l Group Inc, the largest insurer by market value, on Fri
declined to say if their companies were subpoenaed.
Health insurer PacifiCare Health Systems Inc, has not received a
subpoena, rep Cheryl Randolph said.
Spitzer's office did not return calls seeking comment.
Aetna shares closed Thu at $84.06 and have risen 31% in the last y.
Cigna shares closed at $68.88 and have risen 39% in the last y.
MetLife shares closed at $36.05 and have risen 26% in the last y.
The companies' shares trade on the NYSE.
The stock market was closed on Fri to mark a day of mourning for
former US Pres Ronald Reagan .
Jackson charges to remain secret, judge rules
LA (Reuters). A California judge has rejected the latest bid by
reporters for access to the Michael Jackson case.
Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge Rodney Melville has refused
at least for now to make public much of the child molestation
indictment against the pop star for fear of prejudicing potential jurors.
The judge said he would keep secret the evidence spelled out against
Jackson in the indictment, at least until he decides whether to unseal
grand jury transcripts.
Grand jury transcripts and criminal indictments are typically public
documents in California.
But the judge and prosecutors in the Jackson case have taken extraordinary
steps to keep the evidence against the entertainer under wraps.
"It has been a consistent concern of the court that in the
extraordinary, high-publicity environment of this proceeding, the
integrity of the jury pool is threatened if extensive disclosure of
evidence that may or may not be admissible at trial takes place before
the jury is selected," Mr Melville wrote in a 3-page ruling.
Mr Melville has released a version of the indictment that lists only
the charges against him and not the specific accusations or "overt acts".
Media lawyers have argued for full disclosure.
"We strongly believe that the full text of indictment should be
released immediately," attorney Ted Boutrous said.
"The court has indicated that it will revisit this issue and we intend
to argue vigorously that it should release the indictment."
Jackson, who is scheduled to stand trial in Sep, is charged in a 10
count indictment with lewd acts on a boy under the age of 14 as well
as child abduction, extortion and false imprisonment.
The 45-yo entertainer has pleaded not guilty and is free on $3 mn bail.
Defence attorney Thomas Mesereau has vowed that Jackson will be
"vindicated" at trial.
Pub promises end to mouse-eating
Brisbane (AAP). A Bris pub at the centre of a mice-eating scandal
said it was unaware of the "appalling incident" and promised to end
so-called Jackass competitions.
The Exchange Hotel in the heart of the city was the scene of a pub
competition in Apr in which live mice were chewed up and spat out by
contestants.
The incident outraged the RSPCA which wants to prosecute the 2 men
involved for animal cruelty.
RSPCA chief inspector Byron Hall said those involved in the
competition in which the pair were challenged to bite a mouse in order
to win a holiday faced fines of up to $75,000 and 2 y in prison.
The Exchange Hotel issued a statement condemning the incident and
promising an end to the Jackass competitions, modelled on the US TV
show and movie in which participants perform stupid stunts and gags.
"We are embarrassed this incident occurred at our hotel," said the
hotel's snr manager Scott Agnew.
"The offensive part of the promotion on Apr 14 was conducted without
the knowledge of our snr management and after this incident was
brought to our attention we immediately made changes to stop such
unacceptable behaviour."
Mr Agnew insisted the pub was working with the appropriate authorities
and making changes where necessary.
"Management have cooperated fully with the RSPCA in their
investigations into this unacceptable incident," he said.
"We have now significantly tightened our management procedures to
ensure this type of shocking incident cannot be repeated."
The RSPCA said it was still seeking the man who chewed up the mouse to
win a $500 prize, but had interviewed the other competitor.
Qld Primary Industries Min Henry Palaszczuk urged anyone with any info
to contact the RSPCA.
"All animals deserve respect," he said.
"How we treat animals is a measure of how civilised our society is.
"Chewing a mouse and spitting it out is not entertainment, it is barbaric."
Vicn ski season set to open
Melbourne. The 2004 Vicn ski season kicks off today and 100s of
people are expected to make the trip to the snowfields, despite rain
washing away early snow falls at some resorts. The general manager of
Mount Buller Ski Lifts, Laurie Blampied, says it is a social occasion.
"Opening weekend, it's a bit of a party time, there's lots of people
in lodges that get together and sort of stock up their cellars for the
winter," he said. "We have staff returning from overseas and they all
want to catch up and find out all the war stories for the last 6 m."
Blue erupts over Virgin credit fee
Sydney. The Aussie Consumers Association (ACA) has criticised Virgin
Blue's decision to introduce a fee for airline tickets bought by
credit card. The airline will begin charging a $2 flat fee for each
one way ticket purchased on credit from Tue. Qantas last y introduced
a 1% fee on tickets purchased by credit card. The ACA's finance
policy officer, Catherine Wolthuizen, says Virgin's fee is unfair
because it has already been pricing the cost of credit purchases into
its ticket prices. "Whether you pay by credit card, cash or some
other method, you've effectively been paying for credit card
transactions to be processed," she said. "The point of the surcharge
is to shift that cost more directly on to credit card customers but
that's not going to happen where Virgin, or any other company, doesn't
drop its prices for everyone else."
WA swimmers re-assured after shark attack
Perth. The Dept of Fisheries says people should not be alarmed by the
number of shark attacks at W Aussie beaches this y, after a shark
rolled a teenager off his surfboard and bit him at Bunbury this wk.
The 17-yo, Tom O'Brien, was lucky to escape with minor injuries after
being attacked by a 2.5 metre shark at Bunbury's Back Beach on Thu.
The attack is the 3rd of its type this y.
Dept of Fisheries shark researcher Dan Gaughan says the number of
attacks is unusually high but the risk to beachgoers has not increased.
"You shouldn't be any more worried today than you were yesterday or
last y," he said.
"There's always a small risk, a very small risk, when you enter the
ocean that something may mistake you for food but it is a very small risk."
Mr O'Brien says he is relieved to be alive. He was body-boarding with
friends about 50 metres off the beach when the shark attacked him.
The teenager says the shark latched on to the bottom of his body board
and rolled him under the water.
He says he did not realise he was bitten on the foot until he swam to shore.
"It grabbed my board first, that's when I saw its jaws and all that
kind of stuff and how big it was and then it let go of the board and
went for my leg," he said.
"I didn't know it got my leg until I came into shore."
He says he was lucky to catch a wave back to shore.
"I got out [the back] hell easy because the current was so strong and
the next thing I know the bloody shark [was] fricken rolling me over
and got hold of my board with it's jaws," he said. "It was pretty 'schiz'."
Mr O'Brien has been treated for minor puncture wounds.
The Dept of Fisheries believes the shark was a bronze whaler and is
warning people not to swim at the Bunbury Beach at dusk or dawn, or
when the weather is overcast.
Qld horse-riding event draws global attention
Brisbane. Members of a Middle Eastern royal family will be in Boonah,
SW of Bris, this weekend as part of the Aussie championship endurance
horse ride. The event is expected to attract more than 300 riders
from seven countries. Competitors will be in the saddle for up to 18
hr enduring 160 km of rugged mountain tracks and bushland. Charles
Wilson from the United Arab Emirates Royal Stables says it is a huge
event. "I don't know how many people know about it in the region but
there is about 30 VIPs that have flown in for the event," he said.
"The hotels in Bris are pretty booked."
Qld union members rally against FTA
Brisbane. Union members opposed to AUS's free trade agreement (FTA)
with the US have staged a rally outside the ALP State Conference in
Bris. The unions want Qld Prem Peter Beattie to drop all support for
the trade deal. The Prem has offered qualified support for the FTA,
noting it is bad news for the sugar industry but contains positives
for other sectors. The Manufacturing Workers Union (MWU) disagrees
and has enlisted support from other unions to rally ALP delegates on
their way in to the conference. About 100 supporters attended the
rally. Inside the conference, the unions will move to formally oppose
the trade agreement. Mr Beattie is anxious that the issue not turn
into an embarrassing squabble in front of fed Labor leader Mark Latham.
Traffic chaos after SYD Harbour Bridge crash
Sydney. Emergency services crews are trying to free at least 2
motorists trapped after a serious crash on the SYD Harbour Bridge.
The crash is causing havoc for long weekend holiday traffic. The 2
cars collided head-on just before 7.00 am at the northern end of the
SYD Harbour Bridge nr the Milsons Point train station. Emergency
services have converged on the scene with Police Rescue working to
free those trapped. 4 people were initially trapped and it is
believed 2 people are still in one of the cars. Kensey Messer from
the Roads and Traffic Authority says all the southbound lanes of the
bridge's main deck have been closed. "Southbound motorists are
advised to use either the Cahill Expressway or the SYD Harbour
tunnel." Northbound drivers are also affected and extensive delays
are expected in the area for some time.
SYD traffic back to normal after bridge accident
Sydney. 4 people are in a serious condition in hospital after a
dramatic car crash on the SYD Harbour Bridge that caused traffic chaos
all morning. The 4 people were initially trapped after the cars
collided head-on just before 7.00 am. Police rescue crews were called
in to help free them. 3 people in one car, aged between 18 and mid
20s, were taken to hospital with serious injuries. The driver of the
other car was a 56-yo man who was taken to hospital with a fractured
leg. Emergency crews have spent the last few hours cleaning up the
scene. All southbound lanes of the main deck of the bridge were
closed for most of the morning, with northbound traffic slowed as
well. It meant the long weekend traffic was funnelled onto the Cahill
Expressway and into the already congested harbour tunnel -- causing
extensive delays. The area has now returned to normal.
ACTU aims to raise child labour awareness
Melbourne. The Aussie Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) wants to raise
awareness of child labour conditions in AUS, saying children as young
as eight are being forced to work. A recent survey has shown half of
young people working in fast food outlets suffer an injury or illness
at the workplace. The ACTU is using the World Day of Action Against
Child Labour to urge the Fed Govt not to axe the Nat'l Occupational
Health and Safety Commission. Pres Sharan Burrow says children are
being exploited in AUS. "We've got a situation where, particularly
migrant workers, we've got children as young as 8 working and they're
at risk of both injury, but more important of that, being robbed of
their childhoods."
Immigration Dept says suicide reports "wrong"
Canberra. The Immigration Dept says newspaper reports that 4 asylum
seekers in detention have attempted suicide in recent m are false. A
dept rep says although one detainee claimed to have taken 50 pills and
disinfectant earlier this y, subsequent medical tests showed no
overdose had occurred. He says claims that 3 other Iranian detainees
at the Baxter detention centre in SA had also attempted to overdose on
pills are incorrect. The rep says the country's immigration centres
are closely monitored by a range of human rights bodies and other
authorities.
AMA defends use of overseas-trained doctors
Brisbane. The Aussie Medical Association (AMA) says patients should
not be worried about being treated by overseas trained doctors who
have not sat the basic Aussie Medical Council exam.
Qld's Health Min has confirmed overseas doctors working temporarily in
AUS do not have to sit the test.
AMA Qld president David Molloy says the tiered public hospital system
means there is always a more snr doctor to help physicians during
their 1st year.
"If they don't know something there's always somebody above them
supervising their work that they can refer to," he said.
"The whole concept of the public health system is that you have tiered
care and at the end of the chain there's an Aussie registered
specialist supervising the work of the junior doctors."
A rep for Health Min Gordon Nuttall says overseas trained doctors must
have qualifications from a recognised university to practice in Qld.
3 in hospital with legionnaires
Cobram, Vic. 3 elderly people are being treated in hospital after a
legionnaires outbreak at Cobram in NE Vic. Authorities are
disinfecting up to 14 cooling towers and taking samples from sites nr
where the victims live. Medical authorities are preparing for more
cases of the illness, which has a 10-day incubation period.
Labor remains split on Garrett
Peter Garrett could be officially endorsed by the end of next wk.
Sydney. New Labor Party recruit Peter Garrett could be pre-selected
for a safe fed seat in SYD by late next wk.
But not everyone in the party's hierarchy supports the former rock
star's speedy rise.
Labor's nat'l executive has begun the process of pre-selecting its
candidate for the seat of Kingsford Smith.
It has accepted Mr Garrett's nomination but there is not unanimous
support for the former Midnight Oil frontman.
Michael O'Connor from the Construction Foresty Mining and Energy Union
(CFMEU) says he told yesterday's nat'l executive meeting about his concerns.
"We made clear our concerns and the concerns of our members and we
made it clear about our hopes," he said.
The Labor Party's junior vice-president, Warren Mundine, supports Mr
Garrett but says some on the nat'l executive are resentful.
"That is understandable in some cases, a lot of people have got
ambitions, but the executive are very strong -- they're behind this
100%," he said.
Nominations for the pre-selection have opened.
If Mr Garrett is the only one to put his name forward, he could be
chosen as Labor's candidate by Thu.
Claims Howard won't visit Princes Highway
Canberra. It now looks unlikely that PM John Howard will live up to a
promise to visit possibly the worst highway in NSW. The setback comes
after the Princes Highway also missed out on the $2.5 bn of Fed Govt
road funding to NSW. Earlier this week, the Fed Govt announced
funding for the Pacific, Hume, New England and Newell highways under
its Auslink program. But only black spot funding was awarded for the
Princes Highway. This is despite 26 road deaths on the Princes
Highway over the last 7 m. Now a promised tour of the road by the PM
appears unlikely. South Coast Liberal MP Joanna Gash says she will
speak to Mr Howard about the promised visit next wk.
Vic Govt does U-turn on speeding fines
Melbourne. The Vicn Govt has been forced to clarify its position on
speeding fine withdrawals, after motorists accused it of trying to
trick them into paying fines from faulty speed cameras. A letter sent
to 28,000 motorists earlier this wk said they had until the end of Aug
to pay a speeding fine if they did not apply for a withdrawal. That
prompted motorists to accuse the State Govt of trying to save some the
$24 mn it lost in speeding fine revenue because of the faulty speed
cameras on the W Ring Road. But Police Min Andre Haermeyer has been
forced to admit the letter was wrong and says motorists will not have
to apply to have fines automatically withdrawn. Ninety thousand
motorists who have already paid their fines will soon be asked to
apply for reimbursement.
Plane reported "in trouble" nr Adel
Adelaide. Country Fire Service crews and a helicopter are searching
an area south of Adel after reports of a plane in trouble. Police
were contacted by a number of property owners nr Willunga, about 50 km
S of Adel, concerned about a single engine aircraft which appeared to
be making an emergency landing in the area.
Police recapture 2 more Perth escapees
Perth. Police have recaptured another 2 men who were part of a mass
breakout from the Perth Supreme Court, after a raid on a house in
Lockeridge overnight.
9 men overpowered guards at the court's holding cell on Wed.
4 of them were recaptured a short time later.
Overnight, officers arrested Claudio Gabriel Simeon and Bradley Christopher
Nicolaides, who police had identified as their number one target.
The men were arrested during a raid on a house in Morley Drive shortly
before 11.00 pm.
Inspector Gary Kosovich says another person at the Lockridge house
will be charged with harbouring the pair and a firearm was also uncovered.
A .45 calibre revolver or pistol was found at the house and men will
be questioned over that firearm," he said.
Insp Kosovich says police also found a stolen car in the back
yard of the property.
3 of those who escaped on Wed -- James Andrew Sweeney, Laurie John
Dodd and Robert Geoffrey Hill -- remain at large.
Qld police investigate rape claims
Brisbane. A Qld police officer is under investigation after being
accused of raping a teenage girl in the state's SE. The officer, who
cannot be identified, was working in the Burnett region at the time of
the alleged offence. Qld Police have issued a very brief statement
which does not identify the officer, his rank, where he works or where
he has been transferred to. The statement says he has been removed
from full duty and relocated to a larger station. The officer has
also been restricted to desk duties and is not allowed to have any
public contact until the matter is resolved. The Crime and Misconduct
Commission and snr Qld police officers are jointly investigating. Qld
Police say they would not be making any further comment until the
investigation is completed.
Carnley unhappy with Archbishop's resignation
Ian George has resigned after a controversy over child sex abuse in
the church.
Adelaide. The Anglican Primate of AUS, Peter Carnley, says proper
processes have not been followed in the resignation of Adel Archbishop
Ian George.
In announcing the Archbishop's decision to quit, rep Ian Nicolls made
it clear it was not because of public or media pressure.
"Bishops do not resign from office in response to public outcry, media
pressure or internal church deliberations," he said.
Nevertheless, Archbishop George did resign.
In a statement, Archbishop Carnley says it is unfortunate that in the
heat of public debate, proper processes have not been followed to
allow Archbishop George to fully respond to last wk's damning report.
Whistleblower Reverend Don Owers says the damage to the church is not
irreparable.
"In fact, this action that the Archbishop has taken I think is a very
courageous thing for him to do, it offers the opportunity for ways
forward," he said.
Archbishop Carnley says Archbishop George has been a loyal and
courageous leader.
* Problems "not solved"
The whistleblowers who made allegations of child abuse within the
Anglican church say Archbishop George's resignation does not solve the
problems the church faces.
Rev Owers says he feels sad that the sex abuse claims have brought
down the Archbishop.
"It's not simply his problem alone, it's a problem of the whole church
and he's bearing responsibility for that," he said.
Meanwhile, a member of the Anglican General Synod says it is
unfortunate that Archbishop Carnley is to take early retirement later
this y when the church is crying out for leadership.
Stephen Howells QC has criticised Archbishop Carnley's support for
former Archbishop George and says it is disappointing that the Primate
appears removed from mainstream views.
"One would try always because of Peter Carnley's contribution and
because he's a person of formidable ability, one would want to take a
benign view of his intrusion," he said.
"But I think the difficulty with it is again, here's another senior
Archbishop and indeed the Primate who at a time when the church is in
real difficulty, when victims and their families and the community are
looking for leadership from within the church about this, he's chosen
to retire very early."
Archdeacon John Collas will run the Adel diocese until a replacement
bishop is found.
Archbishop "paid too high a price"
Adelaide. A former Anglican archbishop of Adel and MEL says
Archbishop Ian George has paid too high a price in resigning.
Archbishop George resigned yesterday after intense pressure over his
response to a report detailing allegations of sexual abuse by staff
from Anglican agencies in SA.
He was also criticised for not fully investigating the allegations or
reporting them to police.
Pressure over his handling of child sexual abuse cases led to an
announcement yesterday, delivered by Archbishop George's rep.
"Because of my love for the body of Christ and desire for its unit, I
have decided to resign my office as Archbishop of Adel," the statement said.
It is the end of a 13-y reign for Archbishop George.
But his predecessor Keith Rayner -- who went on to become Anglican
primate -- says Archbishop George has paid too high a price.
But he admires the decision.
"He saw that as long as he stayed there would be continuing attacks on
the church," he said.
Archbishop Rayner says Archbishop George should have stayed on to
respond fully to the sex abuse report.
* Change needed
The lawyer representing 50 sexual abuse victims of the Anglican Church
says the resignation will not satisfy all her clients.
Lawyer Susan Litchfield says some of her clients will be satisfied
with his departure but more changes are needed.
"They'll be seeking that the church really change internally and
change its attitude," she said.
"They'll be hoping I know that their claims will be settled and the
church will deal with them fairly and sensitively."
She also criticised the church for hiring a public relations firm to
handles its media enquiries.
Ms Litchfield says her clients want direct dealings with the church,
not via the advice of an insurance company or a consultant.
"Because there always appears to be someone between them and the
church," she said.
"It's not the biggest frustration, it's clearly a difficulty for them.
They never feel that they can get directly to the church."
Police investigate brutal hotel bashing
Adelaide. Police say they are still looking for leads in the case of
a MEL woman who was bashed and robbed at an exclusive Adel hotel on
Thu. The 57-yo was attacked by a man with an iron bar in toilet at
the Hyatt Regency on N Terrace. Detective snr constable Martin Dillon
of the Adel criminal investigation bureau says she suffered a broken
forearm and broken fingers, as well as head lacerations. "She was
actually there as part of a conference for the Friendship Society of
AUS and she was just taking a little break," he said. The man police
want to question is described as 180 centimetres tall and was wearing
a dark coloured suit with red tie. Police are still searching for the
woman's handbag which was taken during the robbery.
Man's ear severed in nightclub brawl
Melbourne. A 23-yo man has been rushed to Saint Vincent's Hospital in
MEL, where he is awaiting micro-surgery following a nightclub brawl
overnight. Police say the man's ear was severed by glass when a fight
between 2 gangs broke out at the Amber Lounge Bar in Lonsdale Street
shortly after 3.00 am. No one has been arrested over the incident.
Police are calling for witnesses to contact Crime Stoppers.
Saturn probe focuses on dark moon
Saturn has 31 known moons and a probe is set to examine one named Phoebe.
Pasadena (Reuters). Dark, rough and contrary, Saturn's Phoebe moon
has long been an object of fascination for astronomers and this weekend
NASA's Cassini space probe will fly past it for the closest look yet.
Cassini will capture data on Phoebe on its way to a 4-y orbital
mission around the ringed planet, scientists said in a statement.
Phoebe is a bit of an eccentric among Saturn's 31 known moons,
orbiting the planet in the opposite direction from most of the
planet's other large satellites, at a 30 degree tilt when compared to
Saturn's equatorial plane.
"That means it's really odd," said Bonnie Buratti, who has studied
Phoebe for 20 y and is a lead scientist on the Cassini mission.
Last observed from space in images snapped by the Voyager probe in
1981, Phoebe is known to be rough and craggy and so uneven that there
may be a huge mountain or crater, Mr Buratti said in a telephone
interview from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
Cassini will take pictures from a much closer vantage point -- 2,000
kms as opposed to 2.2 mn km with Voyager -- and could shed some light
on what Phoebe's uneven surface is made of and where it originated.
Astronomers already know Phoebe's surface is extraordinarily dark,
reflecting only about 6% of the light it gets from the sun.
This darkness could be a sign that it was originally from the Kuiper
belt, an area at the far reaches of the solar system that teems with
such objects.
Earlier observations indicate that the darkness may indicate the
presence of carbon on Phoebe, an important finding since carbon is one
of the building blocks of life, Mr Buratti said.
There is also frozen water on Phoebe, another finding of potential
interest to astronomers looking for clues to how life came to Earth.
One theory is that materials essential to life -- not life itself --
were introduced into the planetary area of the solar system as objects
carrying them were captured from the Kuiper belt by big outer planets
like Saturn.
In fact Saturn's distinctive rings, 100s of them, are thought to be
made up of shattered bits of comets, asteroids and moons that broke up
before they reached the planet.
Cassini will fly by Phoebe on its way to an orbital path around Saturn.
The spacecraft is expected to enter Saturn's orbit on June 30.
The Cassini mission is a joint project of NASA, the European Space
Agency and the Italian Space Agency.
Angry buzzard terrorises cyclists
Holsworthy, Devon (Reuters). An angry buzzard is terrorising a quiet
English country road by dive-bombing passing cyclists. Paul Taylor,
71, says the bird of prey used its beak and claws to rip a 3-inch gash
in his head as he cycled along the stretch of road near Holsworthy in
Devon, W England. "I thought at 1st it was a lorry passing and the
wing mirror had somehow caught my head," Mr Taylor told the Daily
Mail. "Then I saw the buzzard swooping in front of me and suddenly
there was blood pouring down my head and face." Last weekend 22
cyclists taking part in a long-distance competition along the road --
the A3072 -- suffered head injuries or had gouges taken out of their
helmets by the same bird, according to the race's coordinator.
{{
Midnight.
Pakistani troops have attacked bases of what they say are foreign
fighters in S Waziristan border area. Choppers and artillery softened
up the targets and then planes landed ground troops. The army was
attacking "known and confirmed hideouts of miscreants" said the cmding Gen.
Former Iran Pres Rafsanjani says Europe will "regret" trying to deny
Iran of peaceful nuclear technology. He was speaking at Tehran Uni.
The Pres said Europe was "pandering to the US" and the Islamic
republic will not allow itself to be blackmailed over nuclear issue.
A draft res will be put before the IAEA next wk. Sponsored by the
UK, France and Germany it calls on Iran's dual use sites to be
closed. Tehran says the IAEA has no proof of any WMD program. But
ElBaradei UN body says traces of enriched U its found at sites in Iran
"pose worrying questions". Iran says contaminated equipment imported
before nuclear sanctions was responsible for the traces.
The bodies of 11 Chinese workers murdered in N Afghanistan have been
returned to Kabul. There are now plans to return them to China. From
the US, Afghan Pres Karzai has urged foreigners not to leave
Afghanistan. 80 survivors from the attack are in Kunduz. Their
company was contracted to reconstruct a highway. Police say 1 man has
been arrested in connection with the killings. Military sources say 2
have been arrested.
NASA's Cassini probe approaches! An ESA and NASA joint mission, it
will pass within a few 1000 km from an outer moon of Saturn. "Phoebe"
is believed to be captured asteroid because of its retrograde orbit.
0.20 am
The Russian tax ministry has managed to remove a judge in its case
against Yukoz, saying he was "biased". In other post-privatisation
news, a new report says 21 individuals in Russia now control 40% of its GDP.
0.30 am
Newcastle. A major council in N England is now in Lib Dem hands. It
was once the safest of Labour seats. But the local elections have
been 48 seats go to the LD, with 30 to Labour. Peter Arnold is putting
it down to hard work and Iraq. Labour members are milling around
looking shell-shocked, says the BBC. Labour has lost about 300 seats
in regional elections so far, and is roughly 12 pts behind the tories.
Tory leader Howard has described his party's result as "excellent".
Never before has the ruling party come 3rd in elections. Govt mins
have been responding, too. "Mortified" came close to the consensus.
1 am
Scientists have put a lower bound on the size of the universe of 80 bn
LY. They had examined background radiation and seen no sign of light
wrapping around the universe since the Big Bang.
6 am
It was down to 4.3 C this morning in MEL, but still no snow in the
[so-called] highlands.
Midday.
1 soldier has been killed and 2 other people wounded in a bomb
explosion at a cafe on the S Philippines island of Holo.
PM Blair has again defended his Iraqi policies following a routing in
the local and EP elections.
Ronald Reagan's body has arrived back in Cal for burial.
Rival Shiite groups have clashed at one of Islam's holiest sites, the
Imam Ali Mosque in Iraq's holy city of Najaff.
Forces loyal to rebel Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr have stormed an
Iraqi police station in the holy city of Najaff.
2 Iraqi children have been killed and 23 people injured in overnight
clashes between US soldiers and militiamen in the Baghdad Shiite
neighbourhood of Sadr City.
Fed Opp'n leader Mark Latham has admitted he may leave Aussie troops
in Iraq to protect diplomats there, if the Foreign Affairs Dept
recommends it.
Union members opposed to AUS's free trade agreement (FTA) with the US
have staged a rally outside the ALP State Conference in Bris.
4.30 pm
The Iraqi Dep FM has been shot dead in Baghdad by unknown gunmen, AFP
and Al-Jazeera report. He was shot in the stomach outside his home in
the N subs of Baghdad. Assassins drove by and opened fire as he
prepared to go to work. He's the 3rd member attacked since the
interim govt was installed earlier this m. The FM was a Shi'ite from
Najaff and was a former member of Saddam's ministry. His driver also
injured in the shooting, but there is no info on his condition.
7 pm
NZ scientists were skeptical, but subsequently decided the householder
was telling the truth. They had said a 1.5 kg rock was a meteorite
that had crashed through the roof of their sub'n home. Analysis of
the black metallic rock showed it had come from space. Observers now
say it's a valuable visitor -- the very rare circumstances of its
entrance added to the price.
8 pm
Ronald Reagan has been laid to rest as the sun set and dozens of
family members attended. A 21 gun salute and an aircraft flyover was
the US military's way of saying goodbye to their cmdr in chief.
The WA Justice Min has criticised her dept after a mass breakout from
Perth Court last wk. The WA govt says $100,000 will be spend
immediately to improve security at court. 3 of those who escaped
still remain at large, despite a massive police hunt.
Bosnian Serb authorities have admitted responsibility for the
Srebrenica massacre. Lord Paddy Ashdown welcomed the admission, but
says it should be followed up by a complete and open disclosure from
Serbian archives. 7,500 boys and men from Srebrenica were killed by
the forces of Gen Mladic in 1995.
Health officials in NSW say there's been an increase in salmonella food
poisoning cases. There's been a 12% jump over last the few m compared
with same period last y. The Health Dept can't ID a sole cause of the
hike in outbreaks.
Moura, NSW. The small township is commemorating the 1994 explosion
that killed 11 mine workers. It was the 3rd disaster in 20 y. 36 men
lost their lives altogether. The 11 in the final accident were
entombed in mine and the mine was closed down. Today, the town got
together to commemorate the event.
N Tassie. SES crews will work t'out the night to find a 4 yo boy who's
gone missing in Big Ben pine plantation, S of Devonport. The boy
wandered away from his father about 8 hrs ago.
9 pm
Kingaroy, Qld. 3 people have been killed and 1 injured in a road smash.
}}
----------------------------------------
Sun, 13 Jun 2004.
HEADLINES:
Soldiers raised abuse concerns
Nat'l abuse inquiry needed, church told
US arrests Afghan bomb maker
Pakistan bombs Al Qaeda hideouts
US frees journalists held for bomb traces in Iraq
US frees journalists held in Iraq
Soldiers hurt in Iraq helicopter accident
No Indian troops for Iraq: Natwar Singh
Killing won't derail Iraq hand over, officials vow
Iraq's Deputy For Min Fatally Shot by Gunmen
Iraq war haunts Brit Labor Party in local polls
Iraq through the eyes of Saddam's doctor
Iraq envoy Brahimi announced his resignation
Coalition hands boats back to Iraqi guards
Americans say Iraq war not worth it
3 extradited to Qld over bank robberies
Al Qaeda says kills US man, holds another in Saudi
Al-Qaeda claims US slaying and hostage
American shot dead in Riyadh
Bush rejects N Korean offer "to dance": report
Dancers find its hip to be square
Dignitaries join memorial for ATSIC leader
Ebadi barred from representing dead journalist's family
Farmers counteract city"s "bambi mentality"
Former servant admits lying about Prince Charles
Garrett "puts Tassie forests in spotlight"
Govt rolls out promised $600 family payment
Greens candidate to stand against Garrett
Greens expect parliament boost
Hamas vows to attack Israelis
Iran toughens nuclear stance
Kerry seeks Republican running mate
Man beats horse in 35km race
Mandela shines in torch relay
Methanol-laced alcohol kills 12, poisons 60
Military chief approved Abu Ghraib tactics: report
Min attacks WA judiciary over mass escape
Min encourages healthy eating in communities
Nat'l holiday road toll reaches 12
Police make $2.4m drug bust
Poll backs Labor's star recruit
Poll: Edwards favoured as Kerry VP choice
Powell slams ALP's foreign policy
Rescue helicopter makes emergency landing
Riyadh attacks 'revenge for Abu Ghraib'
Sadr deal expected 'within a week'
Trade agreement is final: Vaile
US kills 80 in 3-week Afghan offensive
USA presents equipment to Uzbekistan
Union to establish aged care hotline
Vanstone pays tribute to former ATSIC head
Whitehouse "trying to help Howard"
Wrong directions leave injured teen stranded
USA presents equipment to Uzbekistan
Tashkent (Pravda). On June 10, John R Purnell, US Ambassador to
Uzbekistan, presented a total of $6,090,000 worth of equipment to the
Uzbek Ministry of Defense, Border Troops of the Nat'l Security
Service, State Customs Committee, Ministry of Internal Affairs, and
the Nat'l Security Service.
Accepting the equipment was Deputy Min Rustam Niyazov, for the
Ministry of Defense (MOD); Deputy Cmdr Rashid Habiev, for the Border
Troops of the Nat'l Security Service; First Deputy Chairman Holdar
Serikbaev, for the State Customs Committee; First Deputy Min Tahir
Mallajanov, for the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD). Also
participating in the ceremony were officials from the Govts of
Uzbekistan and the US.
The equipment consists of general investigative equipment and database
hardware for the MVD's Counter-Narcotics Division ($93,000); drug
laboratory equipment for the MVD's Main Drug Lab ($125,000); computer
equipment (computers and printers for Border Troops, Customs, MVD, and
NSS units ($188,000); 12 Harris air-to-ground radios for the MOD
($884,000); and 114 Harris radio systems for the Border Troops
reconnaissance platoons ($4,800,000).
The wide array of equipment will significantly enhance the ability of
the receiving Uzbek agencies to perform their mission of detecting,
deterring, preventing, and interdicting trafficking of drugs, illicit
materials, and WMD and protecting the borders of Uzbekistan.
The equipment was presented under 3 different assistance programs: the
State Dept-funded Internat'l Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) and
the Export Control and Related Border Security Assistance (EXBS)
programs and the Dept of Defense-funded Counter Narcotics (CN)
program. Provision of the equipment is the result of a year-long
extensive coordination effort between the Embassy's Drug Enforcement
Agency (DEA), Office of the Defense Attache (DAO), Office of the EXBS
Advisor, and the recipient Uzbek agencies.
Methanol-laced alcohol kills 12, poisons 60
Shiraz, Iran (AFP). 12 Iranians have died and 60 others have been
poisoned after drinking alcohol laced with methanol apparently bought
on the black market in the S city of Shiraz.
An official from the S city's university hospital, Mohammad Baqer
Lankarani, says that 23 of those admitted for care are in a critical
condition.
"Doctors are not very optimistic," he said.
Up to 6 of the victims have also reportedly been blinded.
He says the locally-produced alcohol consumed appears to contain
methanol, a highly poisonous industrial alcohol used in the
manufacture of dyes and anti-freeze.
Small quantities of the chemical can kill, blind and cause serious
damage to the liver and kidneys.
State television, which shows pictures of those injured languishing in
hospital, reports 14 people suspected of distributing the alcohol have
already been arrested.
Police are hunting for more suspects.
The head of the local judiciary, Hossein-Ali Amiri, says those injured
were not drinking at the same place, suggesting the drink is not a
simple case of a home-brew gone wrong.
The production and consumption of alcohol has been banned in Iran
since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Nevertheless, the making of potent home brews and the illegal import
of booze is common in a country once known for its fine wines.
Those caught breaking the rules are subject to strict punishment,
including prison, fines or flogging.
The Iranian press regularly reports on arrests and seizures linked to
the trade.
No Indian troops for Iraq: Natwar Singh
Washington. External Affairs Min K Natwar Singh Sat ruled out the
possibility of India sending troops to Iraq, setting at rest a
controversy over his earlier observations on the issue.
"The question of sending Indian troops to Iraq does not arise," he
told a press conference here, insisting that the "govt position on
this issue is based on nat'l consensus, reflected in our parliamentary
resolution.
"Moreover, no request has been made [by the US] for sending Indian
troops," he added.
The minister, however, said, India welcomed the UN Sec Council
resolution approving the formation of the interim govt in Iraq.
This was "a 1st step in restoring sovereignty to the Iraqi people,
leading to stability and reconstruction [in Iraq]," he said.
"We will keep developments in Iraq under close review. All decisions
will be taken by the govt in close consultations with all the
coalition members," Singh said.
Replying to questions, he expressed "surprise" at the flak his Thu
statement on Iraq had created back home, particularly in the ruling
coalition.
He said he spoke to Communist Party of India-Marxist chief Harkishen
Singh Surjit as the party, which is a prominent constituent of the
ruling alliance, had sought a clarification from the govt on the issue
following Natwar Singh's observations.
"I have spoken to Surjit and sent him the text of what I said."
The minister said he was surprised at the interpretation of the
statement he made on Iraq in response to questions following his
hour-long meeting with Secretary State Colin Powell here Thu.
He said he was only referring to the UN resolution and "I said we will
have a 2nd look at the resolution. And nobody referred to the
deployment of troops [in Iraq]".
Moreover, he said, he himself had been among the authors of the
parliamentary resolution that had rejected the US request of Indian
forces for Iraq.
Americans say Iraq war not worth it
LA (Reuters). A majority of US voters now say it was not worth going
to war in Iraq and feel the US is getting bogged down there, according
to a Los Angeles Times poll.
In the survey of 1,230 registered voters conducted across the country
from Sat through Tue, 53% said it was not worth going to war in Iraq
while 43% said it was and 4% said they did not know. The sample has a
margin of error of 3 points.
The paper said the survey published on Fri was the 1st time one of its
voter surveys found a majority of voters doubting whether the
situation in Iraq was worth the United States going to war there.
In a March LA Times survey 53% of voters said the war was worth
fighting and 43% said it was not, a reverse of the current figure.
The paper said that 35% of American voters thought the US was making
good progress in Iraq while 61% said the country was getting bogged
down there.
But 52% of voters said that they thought the US was winning the war in
Iraq and less than one in 4 said the insurgents were winning.
Despite a growing sense that the war was not justified, voters did not
advocate a quick pullout of Iraq.
Less than 20% said America should withdraw its troops within
weeks. 73% said that there should be no specific date for withdrawal
because disorder and civil war could result.
Powell slams ALP's foreign policy
Washington (AAP). Withdrawal of Aussie forces from Iraq under a
future Labor govt would be a political disaster, US Secretary of State
Colin Powell said.
But he stopped well short of suggesting such a move would have
consequences for the AUS-US alliance.
Mr Powell said the US Admin would talk to whoever was PM of AUS and
respect the decision of the Aussie people on how they would be led and
the policies their leaders pursued.
"If Aussie troops were removed from the campaign effort we have
underway now in Iraq, it would be a disaster, a political
disaster. That is what we believe," he said on ABC television.
"It would be disastrous for AUS to say, 'Well, we see this internat'l
consensus, we see this new resolution but we are going to head for the
door'," Mr Powell said.
"I don't think that's the AUS that I have known and respected for so
many decades."
Key elements of the interview were released last week, adding to the
pressure on Opp'n Leader Mark Latham over his policy to withdraw
Aussie forces form Iraq.
Mr Powell's comments echoed those of US Pres George W Bush during a
visit to Washington by PM John Howard and by deputy US secretary of
state Richard Armitage.
Asked if that implied there would be alliance consequences for AUS
should that occur, Mr Powell replied: "I would never put it that way.
AUS will always be a close friend of the US.
"We are participating in so many ways with AUS, in so many different
areas, the Free Trade Agreement that we are now working without our
Congress on. We have fought together in every conflict that has come
along in the last century."
Mr Powell said the US valued the friendship with Aussie leaders and
with the Aussie people.
He said the US also understood that the Aussie people would determine
their own leaders to take them through troubled times.
"We would always have discussions with whoever the PM of AUS is and we
will always respect the decision of the Aussie people as to how they
would be led or the policies their leader would pursue," he said.
He declined to reveal what he might say to a future Labor govt of AUS.
"I'm not going to get into the details of what I might or might not
have to say to a new Aussie foreign minister or the president might
say to the Aussie PM. We will deal with one govt at a time," he said.
Iraq war haunts Brit Labor Party in local polls
London (AP/VOA). Brit PM Tony Blair's leadership is again being
called into question after his Labor party suffered losses in local
council elections in England and Wales. PM Blair's decision to take
Brit to war in Iraq is seen as a key factor in the elections.
For the 1st time in decades, the Labor Party slipped to third place in
Thu's local elections, behind the Conservatives and the Liberal
Democrats. PM Tony Blair acknowledged his decision to join the US in a
war against Saddam Hussein has cost his party votes. But he says his
decision was right.
"I think it's a question of holding our nerve and seeing it through
and realizing, yes, Iraq has been an immensely difficult decision, but
we've got to turn that around and seeing it through," he said.
Labor member of parliament and former Defense Min Peter Kilfoyle says
the message from the voters is clear.
"I suspect that more of our supporters stayed away, despite the raised
turnout," Mr Kilfoyle said. "I think that there were people who were
making a conscious decision very often to vote against the govt on the
Iraq war, but on what they see as the increased estrangement, the
disengagement, of the govt from their concerns."
Former For Sec Robin Cook says the PM needs to reassure the public
that he heard the anti-war message from the voters. He adds, it will
not be enough to merely say 'we are holding our nerve.'
Mr Cook resigned from his Cabinet post as leader of the House of
Commons to protest the war.
Although political analysts still predict Mr Blair's Labor Party will
win next y's general election, they say the party's poor showing in
the local elections will reopen debate over the PM's leadership.
Mr Blair himself insists he is ready and fit to lead his party into a
3rd consecutive term in power at the next election.
Poll: Edwards favoured as Kerry VP choice
Washington (AP). Sen John Edwards, the smooth-talking populist who
emerged from the nominating campaign as John Kerry's chief rival, is
favoured among registered voters to be the Democratic VP-ial candidate,
according to an Associated Press poll. But his name on the ticket does
not automatically boost Democratic prospects.
A Kerry-Edwards pairing ties with the GOP tandem of Pres Bush and VP
Dick Cheney, which is no better than Kerry's current showing in
head-to-head matchups against Bush, according to the AP poll conducted
by Ipsos-Public Affairs.
Kerry has made overtures to at least one potential candidate,
Republican Sen John McCain of Arizona, who rejected the offer to forge
a bipartisan alliance against Bush, The Associated Press reported
Fri. 2 officials familiar with the conversations said Kerry stopped
short of formally offering McCain the job, sparing the Massachusetts
senator an outright rejection that would make his eventual running
mate look like a 2nd choice.
A hypothetical Kerry-McCain ticket had a 14-point advantage over
Bush-Cheney among registered voters, 53% to 39%, according to a recent
CBS News poll.
Democratic strategists cautioned against reading too much into any
poll before Kerry selects a running mate.
"Polling info on potential running mates is soft and unreliable
because it's all about name identification and hypothetical," said
Doug Sosnik, a top adviser in the Clinton White House. "Eventually,
we'll have a campaign when people will get to know them. Right now,
it's just mush."
The AP poll showed that more than 1/3 of registered voters -- 36% --
said they would most like to see Kerry choose Edwards.
Among Democrats surveyed, Edwards fared even better: 43% preferred him
over 3 other Democrats.
The first-term senator from N Carolina remained in the primaries
longer than any other major candidate and won over 1000s of Democratic
voters with the positive tone of his campaign.
The poll showed that 19% of registered voters wanted Rep Dick Gephardt
of Missouri, the longtime Democratic leader who is retiring from the
House. Eighteen% chose retired Army Gen Wesley Clark, a political
newcomer from Arkansas, and 4% picked Gov Tom Vilsack of Iowa, a
relative unknown on the nat'l scene.
About 23% said they were not sure or they offered another name.
When Sen Hillary Rodham Clinton of NY was added to the mix, 1/4 of the
respondents supported her while Edwards' backing remained strong at
34%. She picked up one-half of the black vote, drawing support from
Gephardt, Vilsack and the "not sure" category.
She repeatedly has ruled out accepting the VP-ial nomination, and Kerry
has not offered it.
Among just Democrats, Gephardt got 19%, Clark 18% and Vilsack 4%.
None of the potential candidates made much of a difference in a
hypothetical matchup against the Whitehouse team.
Like the Kerry-Edwards tandem, a Kerry-Gephardt ticket tied
Bush-Cheney while pairing Kerry with Vilsack or Clark resulted in a
slight lead for Bush-Cheney.
"What this poll shows is that since Edwards ran a very, very
competitive Democratic primary and stayed in until the bitter end and
by all accounts acquitted himself well, he is favoured by Democratic
and all American voters," said Doug Schoen, a pollster for Clinton.
Schoen and other political experts say there is no way to measure the
boost or drag a running mate will bring to the ticket.
Nobody predicted that Sen Joe Lieberman of Connecticut would give
Democrat Al Gore the lift he did in 2000 nor did anyone foresee the
problems Republican Dan Quayle caused then-VP George H W Bush in 1988.
Whatever the impact, it is usually short-lived.
"Polling should be a factor on the final selection of a vice
president, but I wouldn't put it on the top 4 or 5 factors," Sosnik said.
Presid'l nominees are usually more interested in whether candidates
are qualified to serve as president, whether there are any political
problems in their background and whether the relationship would have
some chemistry and trust, Sosnik said.
Schoen said Edwards benefits from being the last major candidate
standing against Kerry in the Democratic race. Gephardt bowed out
after a dismal 4th-place showing in Iowa's kickoff caucuses.
Clark lasted longer but criticised Kerry along the way. Edwards jabbed
at the Democratic front-runner but never made personal.
The AP-Ipsos poll of 788 registered voters was conducted Mon to
Wed. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.5 points. For
the responses of subgroups, it was slightly larger: 5 points for
Democrats, 5.5 points for Republicans.
In hypothetical matchups against the GOP ticket:
* Kerry-Edwards had 47% to 44% for Bush-Cheney.
* Bush-Cheney had 47% to 45% for Kerry-Gephardt.
* Bush-Cheney had 47% to 43% for Kerry-Vilsack and for Kerry-Clark.
Kerry is expected to announce his choice next m.
Among others mentioned as potential Kerry running mates are Sens Bob
Graham of Florida and Evan Bayh of Indiana; former Sen Bob Kerrey of
Nebraska; and Govs Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Mark Warner of
Virginia, Bill Richardson of New Mexico and Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania.
Democrats say there may be a dark horse under consideration, perhaps a
Republican other than McCain. Sen Chuck Hagel, R-Neb, has been
mentioned as a potential pick.
As for the Republican ticket, 28% of GOP voters surveyed thought Bush
should pick someone other than VP Dick Cheney as his running mate.
Kerry seeks Republican running mate
Washington (AFP). Democratic Party presidential contender John Kerry
has repeatedly asked Republican Sen John McCain to be his running mate
but been turned down, 2 leading US newspapers report.
The NY Times reports Mr Kerry 1st approached Mr McCain, who is one of
the most popular Republicans in Congress, 3 wk after sewing up the
Democratic nomination.
The Washington Post reports talks have not prospered because Mr McCain
believes a bipartisan ticket would fail and could weaken the presidency.
The outlandish notion that a Republican could be a VP-ial partner for
Mr Kerry has added drama to the campaign for the Nov 2 election, in
which Republican Pres George W Bush is looking vulnerable.
A recent CBS News poll showed that a Kerry-McCain ticket would defeat
Mr Bush by 14 points -- 53% to 39%.
Mr McCain, however, repeatedly denied interest.
"I spent several y in a N Vietnamese prison camp, in the dark, fed
with scraps. Do you think I want to do that all over again as vice
president of the US?" he recently told a late night comedy show.
Mr Kerry and Mr McCain are both Vietnam war veterans and say they are
close friends.
Mr Kerry has yet to pick a running mate but those widely believed to
be on the short list include former Missouri congressman Richard
Gephardt and N Carolina Sen John Edwards.
Whitehouse "trying to help Howard"
Canberra. Carmen Lawrence has accused the US of interfering in Aussie
politics. The Labor Party's fed president, Carmen Lawrence, has
accused the United States Admin of trying to help PM John Howard win
another term.
US Pres George W Bush and 2 snr officials have attacked Mark Latham's
commitment to withdraw AUS's troops from Iraq by Christmas.
Ms Lawrence does not think the comments will harm Labor's electoral
prospects.
But she says it does appear the comments were designed to help the
Howard Govt in the lead-up to this y's election.
"They're probably working to support Mr Howard, who has aligned his
fortunes precisely with those of Mr Bush," Ms Lawrence told Channel Nine.
"I don't know what the outcomes will be but a lot of Aussies tell me
that we should be entitled to make up our own minds, taking into
account all of the factors that Aussies care about. We don't really
need advice."
* "Speaking candidly"
However, US Secretary of State Colin Powell says Mr Bush's comments on
the importance of AUS's commitment to Iraq were not an attempt to
interfere in the election campaign.
"I think the Pres was speaking candidly, he didn't intend to insert
himself into your campaign," Mr Powell said in an exclusive interview
with ABC TV's Insiders program.
"He responded very directly because AUS is such an important country,
not only in terms of the military contribution that it has made to
this effort but the political statement that comes from AUS is always
viewed with a great deal of regard throughout the world.
"It is your political commitment as well as your military commitment
that is important.
"I think it would be a disaster if in light of this unanimous [United
Nations] resolution, AUS would suddenly say, 'well, you know, never
mind, let's move away right now'."
"I don't think that is the AUS that I have known and respected for so
many decades," Mr Powell added.
* Alliance
Asked if Labor being elected and pulling Aussie troops out of Iraq
would damage the alliance between Aussie and the US, Mr Powell said:
"I would never put it that way.
"AUS will always be a close friend of the US and we are participating
in so many ways with AUS and in so many different areas," he said.
"The free trade agreement that we are now working with our Congress
on, our security relationship. We have fought together in every
conflict that has come along for the last century and we value the
friendship that we enjoy with Aussie leaders and with the Australian
people.
"But in valuing that relationship we also understand that the Australian
people are a sovereign, proud people who will determine who their
leader should be to take them through troubled times."
The Fed Oppn's foreign affairs rep, Kevin Rudd, says criticisms from
the US will not change Labor's commitment to withdraw Aussie troops
from Iraq.
But he says that does not extend to those personnel serving elsewhere
in the Middle East.
"There is another set of forces offshore -- the Navy vessel and PC3
Orions -- which are engaged in the broader war against terrorism and
we've been absolutely clear cut from the beginning that they remain on
station," he said.
Mr Rudd says those troops guarding Aussie diplomats in Iraq may also
stay, if experts from the Foreign Affairs Dept recommend it.
American shot dead in Riyadh
Riyadh (AFP). A US citizen has been killed in a drive-by shooting in
Riyadh and another American man is missing amid claims on an Islamic
website that he was kidnapped.
The attacks are the latest in a string of attacks on Westerners in
Saudi Arabia by suspected Islamist extremists.
The US embassy and Saudi police have confirmed a US nat'l was killed
but have not identified him.
"An American resident was shot dead in al-Malaz district at 4.00 pm,"
the capital's police chief said. "The incident is being investigated
by security authorities," he added in a statement.
Security men at the scene in central Riyadh and other sources said the
victim was believed to have been working for an electronics firm,
Advanced Electronics Company.
A policeman at the scene said the man came under fire from a car with
two passengers as he drove his car into the garage of his home in
Qalaat Ayyoub Street in the al-Malaz district.
At the same time, The US embassy in Saudi Arabia has confirmed that an
American citizen is missing, possibly kidnapped by Islamic militants.
An Islamic website has claimed responsibility for the abduction.
US embassy staff in Riyadh say they are working with local authorities
to find the man.
* Video released
On Tue, another American who worked for Vinnell Corp, which helps
train the Saudi Nat'l Guard, was shot dead at his home in Riyadh.
A purported Al Qaeda videotape posted on an Islamist website claims to
show the man's killing.
"The murder of the Jewish American Robert Jacob, who worked for the
Vinnell espionage firm," a statement announcing the video on the
website says.
The video shows a man who seems to be a Westerner fall to the ground
in front of a garage as 2 men holding guns run towards him.
On June 6, an Irish cameraman was shot dead and a BBC journalist
critically wounded in another attack in the Saudi capital, just a week
after a shooting and hostage-taking rampage in the eastern oil city of
Al-Khobar left 22 people dead, including 4 Westerners.
6 Westerners -- 2 Americans, 2 Britons, an Aussie and a Canadian --
were killed when gunmen went on a shooting spree at a petrochemical
plant in the Red Sea industrial port of Yanbu on May 1.
On May 22, a German nat'l working in the catering dept of the Saudi
nat'l carrier was shot dead in Riyadh.
On June 2, one American serviceman who also helps train the Saudi Nat'l
Guard was slightly injured in another shooting incident outside Riyadh.
Statements attributed to the Al Qaeda network and affiliates, sent by
e-mail or posted on Islamist websites, have claimed responsibility for
the recent attacks.
Western residents of Saudi Arabia are increasingly thinking of leaving
and some are not renewing work contracts as a result of the attacks,
expatriates and diplomats said this wk.
The US embassy on Sat night called again on American residents to leave.
"The State Dept published a travel warning on Apr 15 strongly urging
American residents to depart and others to defer travel to Saudi
Arabia," the embassy said in a statement.
Ambassador James C Oberwetter said Americans "who choose to remain
here should exercise the utmost caution as they go about their daily lives".
Al-Qaeda claims US slaying and hostage
Jacobs, 62, of Murphysboro, Ill, worked for US defence contractor
Vinnell Corp.
Riyadh (AP). Suspected militants killed an American in the Saudi
capital on Sat, shooting him in the back as he parked in his home
garage, and the US Embassy said it was searching for an American who
was missing.
A purported al-Qaeda statement posted on an Islamic Web site late Sat
claimed the terror group had killed one American and kidnapped another
in Riyadh. It threatened to treat the captive as US troops treated
Iraqi prisoners.
The slaying and apparent abduction were the latest attacks in a
campaign of anti-Western violence in the kingdom, believed by many to
be aimed at driving out foreigners as a way to sabotage the vital
Saudi oil sector.
The US Embassy identified the dead man as Kenneth Scroggs. It did not
identify the missing American but said it was working with Saudi
officials to find him.
Scroggs was the 3rd Westerner killed in the kingdom in a week.
Several Islamic Web sites Sat carried links to a videotape -- also
purportedly from al-Qaeda -- that claims the show the killing of
American Robert Jacobs, who was shot at his Riyadh home Tue.
In the kidnapping claim, the al-Qaeda statement showed a passport-size
photo of a brown-haired man and a Lockheed Martin business card
bearing the name Paul M Johnson. It said he was born in 1955.
The mobile phone listed on the card was switched off, and a call to a
2nd phone number was picked up by a voicemail message by a deep-voiced
man who identified himself as Paul Johnson.
The statement said the terror group would deal with Johnson just as
"the Americans dealt with our brothers in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib"
-- a reference to sexual and other alleged abuses of Iraqi and Muslim
prisoners by US troops.
The statement also said Johnson is one of 4 experts in Saudi Arabia
working on developing Apache helicopter systems and that the American
killed worked in the same industry. It did not identify the slain
American but said he was killed at his house.
"Everybody knows that these helicopters are used by the Americans,
their Zionist allies and the apostates to kill Muslims, terrorising
them and displacing them in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq," said the
statement.
It said al-Qaeda would release a videotape later to show Johnson's
confessions and list its demands.
A Saudi security source told The Associated Press that Scroggs worked
for Advanced Electronics Co, a Saudi firm whose Web site lists
Lockheed Martin among its customers. The office number on Johnson's
business card was for Advanced Electronics.
In Scroggs' neighbourhood, the Malaz district of Riyadh, witnesses told
AP that 3 militants 1st shot him in the back as he pulled his car into
the garage. The militants then moved closer and fired more shots.
The statement was signed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the
same group that claimed responsibility for a shooting and
hostage-taking spree in the eastern Saudi city of Khobar on May
29-30. The attack at the hub of the Saudi oil industry killed 22
people, mostly foreign workers.
The videotape that claims to show the "beheading of a Jewish American,
Robert Jacobs" was attributed to the same group.
The video, less than 2 minutes long, does not show any faces. It
begins with men running in a garage and a voice yelling in English,
"No, no, please!" A shot is fired, and the body of what appears to be
a W man falls to the ground. 2 gunmen fire at least 10 more shots at
the fallen man, then one kneels by his head and motions as if he is
beheading him.
A coworker found Jacobs shot in his home Tue, and Jacobs was taken to
a hospital. There were no reports at the time that his killers
attempted to behead him. There was no way to confirm the authenticity
of the statements or the video.
An estimated 8.8 mn foreigners work among 17 mn Saudis in the kingdom,
mostly in the oil sector, banking and other high-level businesses.
Militant attacks against Westerners, govt targets and economic
interests in the Saudi kingdom have surged in the past 2 m, despite a
high-profile campaign against terrorists the govt began after suicide
bombings last y.
Crown Prince Abdullah, shown on Saudi television Sat greeting visitors
at a Riyadh palace, urged his guests to "inform me personally of
anyone who has deviated from religion, attacked [it] or is an extremist."
"I pledge, God willing, ... that they [militants] will not slip away
from the hand of justice," Abdullah said.
US Ambassador James C Oberwetter, in a statement reacting to Sat's
killing and other recent terrorist attacks, expressed his condolences
to victim's families.
"Those Americans who choose to remain here should exercise the utmost
caution as they go about their daily life," Oberwetter said.
"I applaud Saudi Arabia's determination to bring an end to terrorism
in the kingdom," he added.
Speaking in London, Sheik Saleh bin Abdulaziz Al Sheik, the Saudi
minister for Islamic affairs, said Sat that despite the recent surge
of attacks, terrorism in his country had not reached crisis proportions.
"If you look back through the efforts of the Saudi govt in tackling
terrorism, they have destroyed half of the terrorist force," Al Sheik
told journalists at the Saudi embassy in London.
"Our assessment of the situation is that it is controllable, but
because there are sleeping cells and because the terrorists live in a
crowded area the Saudi forces do not want to hurt any of the local
people," he said.
Terror experts have noted that the militants are using several tactics
-- including shootings and ambushes where the gunmen do not die --
rather than limiting themselves to suicide bombings or swift attacks
under the cover of darkness.
They are also trying to avoid killing Muslims. The death of several
Muslims and Arabs in a Nov compound attack in Riyadh horrified many
Muslims -- something that could seriously affect recruiting efforts.
Experts say the terrorists want to create "a psychosis of terror" so
foreigners will leave the country, the oil and defence sectors would
suffer and the system would weaken.
Last Sun, an Irish cameraman was killed and a Brit TV correspondent
was critically wounded when fired on while filming in a neighbourhood
that is home to many Islamic militants.
The US has urged all its citizens to leave the kingdom, and the Brit
Foreign Office has advised Britons against all nonessential travel to
Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh attacks 'revenge for Abu Ghraib'
Riyadh (Reuters). Al Qaeda militants in Saudi Arabia claim to have
killed one American and kidnapped another to avenge the US
mistreatment of Muslim prisoners in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.
The attacks are the latest in a string of assaults on Westerners in
Saudi Arabia by suspected Islamist extremists.
In a statement posted on Sawt al Jihad Islamist web site, Al Qaeda
militants identify the kidnapped American as Paul Marshal Johnson from
New Jersey -- born on May 8, 1955 -- and a specialist in Apache helicopters.
"The Mujahidoun were able in the same operation to kill another
American working as a manager in the military sector," said the
statement signed by the "Al Qaeda Organisation in the Arabian Peninsula".
"They stalked him and then killed him inside his home," it said.
The US embassy has confirmed that a US nat'l was shot dead in Riyadh
yesterday.
It was the 3rd attack on Westerners in a week, adding to fears about
security in the world's biggest oil producing country.
In a statement, the Mujahidoun displayed a copy of the passport of the
American it kidnapped, his Saudi driving licence and his business
card, which showed he worked for Lockheed Martin as a systems engineer
and site manager.
It said he was one of 4 top engineers specialising in developing
Apache helicopters.
* "Avenge our brothers"
"It is not a secret that these planes have long been used by the
Americans and their Zionist allies and the apostates in killing
Muslims, terrorising and displacing them in Palestine, Afghanistan and
Iraq," the statement said.
"The Mujahidoun in the Arab Peninsula reserve the legitimate right to
deal with the Americans in the same way to avenge what the Americans
did to our brothers in Abu Ghraib prison [in Iraq] and Guantanamo," the
statement said in reference to images of US soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners.
The group that signed the statement is led by Abdulaziz al Muqrin, Al
Qaeda's top leader in Saudi Arabia.
Muqrin has vowed to make 2004 "a miserable and bloody year" for Saudi Arabia.
Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda group, blamed for the Sep 11,
2001 attacks on US cities, has vowed to destabilise Saudi Arabia and
drive Westerners out of the country.
The kingdom, the birthplace of Islam, has been fighting militants for
a year, arresting and killing many -- including 8 on a wanted list of 26.
Riyadh says the militants are going for soft targets after the clampdown.
In one of the biggest attacks, 22 civilians were killed when Al Qaeda
militants went on a May 29 shooting spree and took dozens of
foreigners hostage in the oil city of Khobar.
Al Qaeda says kills US man, holds another in Saudi
Baghdad (Reuters). Gunmen killed a top Iraqi diplomat on Sat in the
first high-profile assassination in Iraq since an interim govt took
over on June 1.
Attackers fatally wounded Bassam Qubba, the Foreign Ministry's
undersecretary for multinat'l affairs and internat'l organisations, as
he was on his way to work from his home in Baghdad's mainly Sunni
Muslim Adhamiya district.
US officials say insurgents, who often target Iraqis seen as
cooperating with the Americans, are likely to step up attacks before
Iraq's occupation formally ends on June 30.
In other lawlessness, kidnappers killed a Lebanese citizen, Hussein
Ali Alyan, 28, and 2 of his Iraqi colleagues, after seizing them in
Baghdad on Thu, a Lebanese diplomat said.
Foreign Ministry sources in Beirut said the bodies of the men, who
worked for a Lebanese telecommunications company, had been dumped
between Fallujah and Ramadi, W of the capital.
But the ordeal of 7 Turks kidnapped in Fallujah 5 days ago ended in
their release on Sat, a Turkish diplomat said. The 7 employees of a
Turkish contracting firm were in good health. There was no word on who
had seized them or why.
Anti-US groups have kidnapped dozens of foreigners in Iraq since Apr.
Many have been freed. Apart from Alyan, an Italian and an American
hostage are known to have been killed.
* TARGETED KILLING
Iraqi FM rep Thamer al-Adhami said Qubba's assailants had overtaken
his car and fired as they drove past, fatally wounding the official in
the waist.
Qubba, a Shi'ite Muslim, was appointed to his post 2 m ago. He was a
veteran career diplomat who served as ambassador to China during
Saddam Hussein's Baathist rule.
A Foreign Ministry statement said the killing bore "the hallmarks of
leftover supporters of Saddam Hussein's evil regime." For Min Hoshiyar
Zebari said the govt "will not be scared or intimidated by Saddamists."
Pakistan bombs Al Qaeda hideouts
S Waziristan (Reuters). Pakistani war planes are bombing hideouts of
Al Qaeda-linked militants on in barren mountains bordering
Afghanistan, where 54 people have been killed in 4 days of fighting.
Sone resident of the mountainous Shakai area, SW of Islamabad, says
they woke up the to roar of jets.
"Then I saw 3 helicopters flying in the direction of Shakai," the
resident said.
"There was a lot of firing like a guerrilla battle going on all night."
Residents of Shakai saw air strikes in the nearby Tangari hills.
The Pakistan army launched an offensive this wk to hunt down foreign
militants and the Pashtun tribesmen who are defiantly protecting them
after attempts to negotiate an amnesty failed.
"The fighting is going on," military rep Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan said.
He says it will continue to its "logical end".
Maj Gen Sultan says 35 militants and 15 soldiers had been killed on
Wed and Thu.
Updates on casualties are scant today, although a Govt officer in the
area reports another soldier killed.
3 civilians are also been reported killed.
Soldiers raised abuse concerns
Washington (The Age). The top US military officer in Iraq approved
letting officials at a Baghdad jail subject detainees to temperature
extremes, reversed sleep patterns and diets of bread and water
whenever they wished, The Washington Post reported yesterday.
Lt-Gen Ricardo Sanchez borrowed from a list of high-pressure tactics
used at the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, when he
granted wide latitude to officers overseeing detainees at the Abu
Ghraib prison, the Post reported, citing newly obtained documents.
The documents spell out in greater detail than previously known the
interrogation tactics Gen Sanchez authorised in early Sep 2003, and
make it clear for the 1st time that, before last Oct, these tactics
could be imposed without seeking the approval of anyone outside the prison.
Unnamed officials at the Florida HQ of the US Central Command, which
has overall military responsibility for Iraq, objected to some of the
32 interrogation tactics Gen Sanchez approved. As a result, Gen
Sanchez removed several items on the list in Oct and required prison
officials to obtain his direct approval for the remaining
high-pressure methods, the Post reported.
It has also been revealed that at least 5 American soldiers objected
last autumn to abuses they saw at the Abu Ghraib prison. One demanded
to be reassigned, saying the behaviour "made me sick to my stomach".
The non-commissioned officers who heard such complaints did little to
stop the mistreatment, according to army records obtained by The
Associated Press.
One of those NCOs, Staff Sgt Ivan "Chip" Frederick, is accused of
stomping on prisoners' toes and punching another prisoner so hard in
the chest that he remarked, "I think I might have put him in cardiac
arrest". Staff Sgt Frederick is among 6 soldiers facing
courts-martial. Another soldier pleaded guilty last m.
The military's full-blown investigation into beatings and humiliations
at Abu Ghraib began in Jan after one soldier wrote an anonymous letter
to superior officers about troubling photographs. That soldier,
Specialist Joe Darby, came forward later to talk to army investigators
and eventually became known as the whistle-blower who uncovered the scandal.
Internal army documents show others condemned the abuse they saw at
the prison, although their complaints failed to prevent further mistreatment.
That earlier complaints apparently went nowhere adds to the
uncertainty over a key question in the Abu Ghraib scandal: did
superior military police or intel officers encourage or condone the
abuses? A report from army Maj-Gen Antonio Taguba says yes.
Military chief approved Abu Ghraib tactics: report
Washington (AFP). The top US military cmdr in Iraq approved
high-pressure tactics used on inmates at the infamous Abu Ghraib
prison in Iraq, according to fresh media reports. The Washington Post
says Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez approved letting snr officials at Abu
Ghraib "use military dogs, temperature extremes, reversed sleep
patterns, sensory deprivation and diets of bread and water on
detainees whenever they wished". Lt Gen Sanchez borrowed heavily from
a list of interrogation tactics used at the detention centre at the US
naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, according to the Post. It says
Lt Gen Sanchez authorised prison officials to use the pressure tactics
in early Sep 2003, without having to seek approval from higher-ranking
officials outside the prison. However, military officials at US
Central Command raised objections to 32 measures that Lt Gen Sanchez
had approved. By Oct 2003, those measures were ended and prison
officials were to obtain Lt Gen Sanchez's direct approval to use the
remaining authorised pressure tactics, the Post reported.
US frees journalists held for bomb traces in Iraq
Baghdad (Reuters). The US military has released 4 journalists who
were detained after explosives residue was found on them as they tried
to enter the US HQ in Baghdad, an army rep says. Brig-Gen Mark Kimmit
said on Sat 2 Iraqis and 2 Turks were arrested June 7 after sniffer
dogs found the residue. They were released 4 days later. "There was
some concern about the press credentials that they were carrying but
after further investigation their credentials were substantiated,"
Kimmitt told a news conference. "It was determined that these persons
were not a threat and hence they were released." A US military
official in the heavily fortified US Admin compound, known as the
"Green Zone", said earlier this wk that explosives had also been
discovered in the 4 people's hotel room. Kimmitt denied that report.
Iraq's Deputy For Min Fatally Shot by Gunmen
Baghdad (AP/VOA). Gunmen fatally shot a snr deputy foreign minister
in Iraq's interim govt on Sat, as he travelled to his Baghdad
office. The attack follows a recent assassination attempt on another
member of the interim govt.
Iraq's Foreign Ministry says Deputy For Min Bassam Salih Kubba was on
his way to work, travelling through a neighbourhood just N of Baghdad,
when gunmen drove up behind his car and opened fire.
The assailants then fired several more rounds into the vehicle as they
sped past. The wounded minister was rushed to the hospital, but he
died soon after arrival.
In a written statement to the media, Foreign Ministry officials called
the attack a criminal operation against a man who symbolised honesty,
sincerity and patriotism. The ambush came on the heels of Wed's
drive-by shooting of a car carrying the Iraqi deputy health minister,
Ammar al-Safar. The minister escaped unharmed.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Mr Kubba was a
US-educated Shiite Muslim, who climbed to power in Saddam Hussein's
Sunni Muslim-dominated regime. The 60-yo diplomat was once Iraq's
ambassador to China, and also served as an advisor to Saddam's foreign
minister, Tariq Aziz.
On June 1, Mr Kubba was appointed to be one of several interim deputy
foreign ministers in the new Iraqi caretaker govt, which is to pave
the way for elections in Jan.
One of Baghdad's most influential Shiite religious leaders, Imam Haji
Abass Rihda, says it is up to Iraqi citizens to help ensure that those
elections can be held on time.
The Imam says this transition period should be a time of peace, so
that the govt can move toward its goal of holding free elections. He
says it is the duty of all Iraqis to be watchful, and prevent any
group or people from derailing that process.
Meanwhile, 7 Turkish construction workers, kidnapped by an unknown group
in the restive town of Fallujah last wk, were freed Sat by their captors.
Turkish officials say they were released unharmed and in good health.
But Lebanese officials in Beirut say a Lebanese man and 2 Iraqis
recently abducted in Iraq have been shot and killed.
Another Lebanese man kidnapped at the same time is still missing.
Killing won't derail Iraq hand over, officials vow
Baghdad (AFP). Officials from Iraq's interim govt and the Whitehouse
have vowed to push ahead towards a hand over of power, despite the
assassination of one of Iraq's top diplomats.
A group of 3 gunmen opened fire on the Under-Secretary for Foreign
Affairs, Bassam Qubba, as he travelled to work in Baghdad yesterday.
He is the 1st nat'l official to be assassinated since the country's
new caretaker govt was unveiled less than 2 wk ago.
Iraq's caretaker For Min, Hoshyar Zebari, has condemned the attack and
says efforts to establish a sovereign Iraq will continue regardless.
"He was targeted to try to derail or undermine the ongoing work to
build the Foreign Ministry," he said.
"But as I said, the march goes on and those people will not be able to
scare us or to intimidate us.
"We will continue our work to build this institution."
The Whitehouse agrees the killing will not delay the June 30 hand over
of power and has warned of more attacks as that deadline nears.
The new govt has blamed supporters of ousted president Saddam Hussein
for the killing.
* Lucky escape
A 2nd high-profile figure, Gen Hussein Mustapha, who heads Iraq's
border guards, had a lucky escape after his 2-car convoy was ambushed
and sprayed with bullets.
The attack occurred as the convoy was driving along a highway to
Baghdad's airport.
One of 3 police in another car was killed in the attack.
Insurgents have waged an assassination campaign against police, civil
servants and politicians in a bid to discredit the US-led occupation
and its reconstruction efforts.
Shiite politician Ezzedine Salim, who was rotating president last
month of the now-dissolved governing council, was assassinated on May
17 in a car bombing.
Soldiers hurt in Iraq helicopter accident
Baghdad (Reuters). A US helicopter has made a forced landing N of
Baghdad and 2 American soldiers are hurt, the US military says. "2 US
soldiers were slightly wounded when their helicopter was forced to
make a landing," a military rep said. "The helicopter rolled over and
caught fire." He says it is not clear if what he calls "enemy fire"
is the cause of the crash, which occurred between Baghdad and Taji,
where a US military base is located. An investigation is under way.
Sadr deal expected 'within a week'
Baghdad (ABC, Matt Brown). Muslim leaders in Iraq say they are close
to reaching a final agreement with rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada al
Sadr. The mainstream Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in
Iraq has been brokering a deal with Sadr. They are trying to get him
to demobilise his Mehdi army in the holy cities of Kufah and Najaff.
The head of political relations for the council, Redha Taki, has told
the ABC the dispute will be solved within the week. Sadr has been
charged with being involved in the murder of a rival cleric last y.
But under the deal, if he goes to trial it will be delayed until after
the end of the US occupation or will be held in a religious court. If
his forces are stood down permanently it will be a major breakthrough
for the US military and Iraqi authorities.
Iraq through the eyes of Saddam's doctor
"To a doctor, an illness is an illness. The status of the patient is
immaterial. Doctors only see a human being in need of treatment"
-- Dr Bashir, defending his services to Saddam
"The pain of a cut on the wrist was nothing compared to the misery and
pain of being a wife of a president in a country like Iraq"
-- Dr Bashir, quoting Saddam's 1st wife Sajida
Baghdad (Al-Jazeera). Saddam Hussein's doctor says his book, In the
Name of Terror, is intended to set the record straight on Iraq's
history which he believes has suffered from a great deal of
falsification.
Ala Bashir is a prominent Iraqi surgeon, painter and sculptor. He is
well known in his country for the 1000s of plastic-surgery operations
he performed on Iraqi soldiers during the eight-y Iran-Iraq war.
Dr Bashir recalled how, during a ceremony to honour distinguished
Iraqi professionals, Saddam Hussein shook hands with him, and thanked
him for his public service. The president told the surgeon that he
highly admired an artist who also the bore the name Ala Bashir.
Saddam was surprised when one of the attendants told him, "Mr Pres,
the fine artist and the great surgeon are one and the same person".
The president held the multi-talented Dr Bashir in such high esteem
that he eventually made him a part of his inner circle.
Dr Bashir does not regret the services he rendered to Saddam. To him,
he says, Saddam was a patient just like any another.
"To a doctor, an illness is an illness. The status of the patient is
immaterial. Doctors only see a human being in need of treatment," he said.
* Adviser's role
Be that as it may, Dr Bashir was one of the very few people that
Saddam would turn to for advice on political issues.
Sources close to the deposed Iraqi president recounted that, on one
occasion, Dr Bashir was the last resort of Saddam's half-brother
Barazan al-Takriti when the he failed to convince the former president
about a particular issue.
"Even Saddam's brothers were surprised at the level of respect Saddam
had for me. They used to seek my help whenever they needed to tell him
something that they knew he would not like to hear," Dr Bashir told
Aljazeera.net.
* History twisted
Having become familiar with the politics of Iraq, Dr Bashir found himself
morally obliged to document a critical part of his country's history.
After Iraq's museums and archives were looted and destroyed following
the US-led invasion, he said, he came across a great deal of false
info as well as willingness to rewrite the country's history to suit
certain ends.
"I was reading an unbelievable amount of falsehood about Iraq, and
thought it was my responsibility to tell what I know," Dr Bashir
said. "I was reading and hearing info which seemed to come from
people's imaginations and guesswork."
His book is based on Iraq's history spanning centuries. He believes
that what happened in Iraq cannot be separated from its myths.
"Nowadays, newspapers and books speak about bloodshed in Iraq as if
it's an unusual thing for the country, whereas the truth is very different.
* Culture of violence
"Iraq has always been a volatile country, and warring parties have
always been forced to use the ultimate form of violence to achieve
their goals," Dr Bashir said.
He cites examples from history and says the culture of violence has
been present in Iraq since the dawn of history, because it is a rich
country and has always been endangered.
"If we look at Iraq since the 3rd millennium BC, we will see that wars
for power and wealth have always been going on between internal parties
and between Iraqis and invaders, and they have always ended in bloodshed.
"In modern history, let us review what happened in Mosul in 1959.
People were slaughtered and bodies were hanged in the streets, when
communists backed by the then Iraqi president, Abd Al-Karim Qassim,
crushed an uprising by pan-Arab nat'lists."
* 'I always believed [Saddam's] end would not be pleasant'
The book has already appeared in local-language versions in the Nordic
countries. A Dutch version should be in the shops soon and agreements
for English and Arabic editions have already been signed.
Readers in the W may find it interesting that Saddam considered the
Brit superior to Americans -- because of their history -- but rated
the "honest and humanistic" French higher still. He regarded France's
Charles de Gaulle as the world's greatest statesman.
* Saddam's red line
"I disagreed with him on many occasions. Often he had the right point
of views but failed to act properly," Dr Bashir said.
"I always sensed that the end of such a stubborn leader would not be
pleasant, even if he was clean on the inside."
He said Saddam regarded any contact with Israel or involvement in the
peace process as a red line not to be crossed by Iraqis.
Dr Bashir said he believed Saddam remained committed to the cause of
liberating Palestine until the end, and because of that he was
regarded as an obstacle that needed to be cleared away.
* Non-existent son
Being also the family doctor, Dr Bashir had to attend to Saddam's
second wife Samira al-Shahbander.
He denied that Saddam fathered a son with Samira, as rumours both
inside and outside Iraq have suggested for more than 2 decades now.
"No human being called Ali Saddam Hussein exists. I never saw the
supposed Ali, unless Saddam wanted to hide him from me, which made no
sense because I was one of the 1st people who learned about his second
marriage," Dr Bashir said.
He draws a very different picture of Saddam's family life compared
with what has been generally reported. Owing to the pressure of his
security needs and presidential duties, the family had a difficult and
disjointed existence.
Dr Bashir recalled: "One day I was at Saddam's palace doing minor
surgery on Sajida, his 1st wife. I was so tired that I forgot to give
her anaesthetic, but after I cut her wrist I realised my mistake.
"I said to her, is it painful? She said yes. I asked her why she did
not scream or try to bring her condition to my notice. She replied
that the pain of a cut on the wrist was nothing compared to the misery
and pain of being a wife of a president in a country like Iraq."
* Saddam's doubles
Bashir has included in his book the controversy about Saddam's doubles
-- the subject of much debate and speculation over the years.
He said that as a plastic surgeon, no one ever approached him to make
a double for Saddam, and that he was not aware of any operation of
this kind in Iraq.
* Ala Bashir
Born in 1939
Earned his degree in medicine from Baghdad University in 1963.
Studied in Baghdad's Fine Art School 1959-1961.
Became FRCS in surgery from Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1970.
"The only face surgery I did on Saddam was in Feb 1991, when he had
several minor cuts in his face from a car accident during a blackout
in Baghdad in the 1st gulf war."
* The painter
Ala Bashir left Iraq shortly after the the Apr invasion.
He moved to Qatar where he has since dedicated himself to art.
His latest collection of paintings, entitled Mask, was exhibited
recently. The work is a reflection of his belief that every human
being hides himself behind a mask.
Dr Bashir says the practice of taking shelter behind a mask developed
after Adam's son Cain killed his brother, Abel. Filled with remorse,
Cain sought to hide himself behind a mask to avoid his brother's soul,
which he believed was pursuing him day and night.
Iraq envoy Brahimi announced his resignation
UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi reportedly resigned after feeling
he had been side-lined from his role in Iraq by the US.
NY (Haaretz/AP). UN special envoy to Iraq Lakhdar Brahimi announced
his resignation a few days ago during a UN retreat, diplomatic sources
in the world body told Haaretz on Sat.
Though the UN envoy had not yet filed a resignation letter, the
sources said, a replacement for him was already being sought.
UN rep Stephane Dujarric said on Sat that Brahimi did not resign, nor
did he threaten to resign, and added that his mission to Iraq has
simply ended. According to Dujarric, Brahimi is no longer interested
in the mission but will continue to serve as Special Adviser to the
Sec-Gen on various issues, including Iraq.
According to the report, Brahimi had been frustrated for some weeks,
feeling he had been side-lined by the US in the process of setting up
the Iraqi interim govt.
Approximately one m ago it seemed that Brahimi was a key figure in
shaping Iraq's future. The country's leaders, as well as the
Americans, were happy to hear that Sec-Gen Kofi Annan decided to send
him to assist in the transfer of power over to the Iraqi interim govt.
Many understood that Brahimi's role was also to assist in making the
major appointments in the new govt. But the Americans and the
Governing Council members close to them were not about to clear the
way for the UN envoy.
Iraqi officials were later surprised at the massive pressure the
Americans laid on Brahimi, and at his passive attitude toward the
pressure. When the new appointments were announced, Brahimi's rep
expressed concern. "This is not the way we imagined things," he said.
The UN envoy seemed to have been completely taken aback by the way the
23-member Governing Council announced its choice of Iyad Allawi as the
country's interim PM.
A rep for Brahimi had said the envoy would now work with Allawi to
form a govt.
Coalition hands boats back to Iraqi guards
Umm Qasr (AFP). The US-led coalition has handed over patrol boats and
inflatable craft to Iraq's newly formed Coastal Defence Force, which
it has been training since Jan. The Iraqi Coastal Defence Force
(ICDF), which took charge of 15 craft at the S port of Umm Qasr, will
patrol for militants, smugglers and pirates along the Iraqi coastline
and provide some search and rescue services, a coalition statement
said. AUS, Brit, American and Dutch naval personnel have trained the force.
US frees journalists held in Iraq
Baghdad (Reuters). The United States military has released 4
journalists who were detained after explosives residue was found on
them as they tried to enter the US HQ in Baghdad, an Army rep says.
Brig Gen Mark Kimmit says 2 Iraqis and 2 Turks were arrested on June 7
after sniffer dogs found the residue. They were released 4 days
later. "There was some concern about the press credentials that they
were carrying but after further investigation their credentials were
substantiated," he told a news conference. "It was determined that
these persons were not a threat and hence they were released." A US
military official in the heavily fortified US Admin compound, known as
the "Green Zone", said earlier this wk that explosives had also been
discovered in the 4 people's hotel room. Brig Gen Kimmitt denied that report.
Iran toughens nuclear stance
Tehran (Reuters/BBC). Iran has rejected new internat'l demands that
it halt plans to build a heavy water nuclear reactor. Brit, Germany
and France have submitted a draft UN resolution on Iran's nuclear
plans. The resolution requests that Iran shut down a uranium
conversion facility nr Isfahan and reverse its decision to construct a
nuclear reactor nr the central city of Arak. Iranian Foreign Min
Kamal Kharrazi says his country insists on acting independently.
"Iran has to be taken seriously, Iran is powerful and has to be
recognised as a responsible member of the atomic club, this is
inevitable," he said. "Iran will not give up its rights to the
peaceful use of atomic energy as well as its right to supply nuclear
fuel to its power plants."
US kills 80 in 3-week Afghan offensive
Kabul (AP). In the bloodiest fighting this y, US Marines killed more
than 80 insurgents in a 3-wk offensive against a Taliban stronghold in
the mountains of S Afghanistan, the military said Sat.
The US military insisted the battle was a victory that will help
secure fall elections -- rather than a sign of the resilience of
Taliban-led militants.
2 Marines were wounded in the fighting, the military said.
"The Marines have been aggressive, relentless and successful," US
military rep Lt Col Tucker Mansager said. "They have demonstrated that
there is no refuge for the terrorists."
Some 2,000 Marines were sent to Afghanistan this spring, swelling the
US-dominated force to 20,000 -- its largest yet -- in an attempt to
put rebels on the defensive ahead of Sep elections.
Militants have stepped up their own operations, feeding a spiral of
violence that has left more than 450 people dead across the country
this y.
Troops elsewhere had come under rocket and mortar fire several times
in recent days but suffered no casualties, Mansager said.
In another operation, US troops on Fri detained an expert bomb-maker
about 65 km S of Kabul, Mansager said. He described the suspect as a
"medium-value target" but declined to give more details.
The US military and internat'l peacekeepers based in Kabul have warned
since last y that militants are increasingly using the kind of
roadside bombs that have proved so deadly in Iraq.
7 US serviceman have been killed in S Afghanistan since early May --
including 4 when a mine ripped through their Humvee -- and dozens of
Afghan soldiers have died in the region this y.
The Marines are based in Uruzgan Province, the home of fugitive
Taliban leader Mullah Omar, and have called in warplanes to pound a
large group of militants in nearby mountains.
Most of the fighting has been nr Daychopan, in neighbouring Zabul
province, a rerun of clashes last summer that left more than 100
militants and one American special operations soldier dead.
Mansager said the Marines' offensive was allowing regular Army troops
to focus on building ties with local communities across the troubled
border region.
Cmdrs hope this approach, which includes $mns in reconstruction aid,
will persuade villagers and tribes to turn against the militants and
provide intel.
It also is supposed to help safeguard the elections.
The UN has registered nearly one-third of the estimated 10 mn voters
but has yet to send voter registration teams into the most hostile areas.
11 rockets were fired at a convoy of UN, govt and American military
officials in a lawless region nr the Pakistani border on Fri, injuring
no one.
US arrests Afghan bomb maker
Kabul (Reuters). The US military in Afghanistan says it has arrested
a "medium-value target" during a raid S of the capital, Kabul. Lt Col
Tucker Mansager says the target is a bomb maker. "The target was an
improvised explosive device maker," he said. "The capture was
accomplished without a shot fired, with no injuries and no damage."
The rep declines to give any more details. The US military, which
leads about 20,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, comes under regular
bomb attack in S and eastern parts of the country where anti-Govt
militants are most active. The blasts rarely cause serious casualties
but 5 US soldiers have been killed in 2 separate blasts in the past 2 wk.
Bush rejects N Korean offer "to dance": report
Washington (AFP). US Pres George W Bush has rejected a passionate
offer from North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-Il for direct talks
between their countries, press reports in Japan say.
The offer has been conveyed to Mr Bush by Japanese PM Junichiro
Koizumi, who met Mr Kim on May 22.
"He [Kim] wanted to dance [with Bush] so much as to get thirsty," Mr
Koizumi told the US Pres.
The Asahi Shimbun quotes a source close to the Prem as saying Mr Bush
replied that the US would not negotiate with N Korea bilaterally.
The report also says Mr Bush says the US would seek to solve a 20-m
standoff over N Korea's nuclear arms development in an existing
6-nation forum in Beijing.
Another major daily, the Mainichi Shimbun, also reports that Mr
Koizumi has used the unusual expression to convey Mr Kim's wish for
bilateral dialogue.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry says Mr Koizumi has told Mr Bush that Mr
Kim has a "strong desire" for bilateral talks.
The United States claims that N Korea has been pursuing a clandestine
uranium-based nuclear program despite its 1994 pledge to freeze
nuclear development.
It vows not to reward N Korea for a compromise on the stand-off.
Hamas vows to attack Israelis
Gaza (AP). The Islamic militant group Hamas will continue attacks
against Israelis despite Israel's plans to withdraw settlements and
military bases from the Gaza Strip, a top Hamas leader in Gaza said.
Mahmoud Zahar's comments came as Egyptian officials worked on an
agreement for maintaining security in Gaza, Hamas' stronghold, in the
wake of a planned Israeli pullback.
Egypt has offered to send security advisers to Gaza to help train and
equip Palestinian forces, but Zahar said he rejected the proffered
assistance.
"We are against any sort of commitment to any security steps on any
side," Zahar told reporters in Gaza City.
"We are still in the resistance... to free our land from the
occupation."
However, Zahar later said Hamas leaders abroad were expected to begin
talks with Egyptian officials within several days.
Zahar spoke before a meeting with Palestinian PM Ahmed Qurie, who made
a rare trip to Gaza to meet with the heads of the various Palestinian
security branches and members of Palestinian political and militant groups.
It was Zahar's 1st public appearance since the funeral of Hamas's Gaza
leader, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who was assassinated by Israel in Apr.
Zahar is one of Hamas's top leaders in Gaza. Many Hamas leaders have
gone into hiding since then, although it is considered unlikely Israel
would target Hamas leaders during a meeting with Qurie.
Israel PM Ariel Sharon's cabinet approved a plan to evacuate
settlements and soldiers from the volatile coastal strip, where 1.3 mn
Palestinians live in crowded poverty, by the end of next y. Under the
plan, Israel would maintain control of Gaza's coast, airspace and
border with Egypt.
Zahar said the continued Israeli presence was unacceptable.
"We do not trust the Israelis and we do not trust that the Israelis
are going to withdraw from Gaza while they are speaking of controlling
the sea and the air. Until the occupation completely ends, our
resistance will continue," he said.
Zahar did leave open the possibility that Hamas, which rejects the
existence of Israel and hopes to replace it with an Islamic state,
could change its position.
"When we hear something concrete, about full sovereignty, we will
think about what is proposed to us," he said.
"At this moment, our position stands firm. Our endeavour is a
liberation endeavour, and if this liberation is not a full and
comprehensive one, our endeavour will continue."
After the meeting, Qurie said the participants welcomed the Egyptian
efforts and agreed to meet monthly to discuss how to respond to the
changing situation.
Ebadi barred from representing dead journalist's family
Tehran (AFP). Iran's hard-line judiciary is barring Nobel Peace Prize
winner Shirin Ebadi from representing the family of Zahra Kazemi, a
Canadian-Iranian photographer who died in custody.
Mohammad-Ali Dadkhah, of the Human Rights Defence Circle, says Ms
Ebadi's name does not figure in the list of approved lawyers on a
summons for the next hearing in the case, set for July 17.
"This means that the judiciary has refused that Shirin Ebadi can
represent the mother of Zahra Kazemi as a lawyer," he said.
Ms Kazemi died last July after being hit in the head while in custody
in Tehran.
She had been arrested for taking pictures outside the capital's
notorious Evin prison.
The judiciary, a bastion of Iran's religious right, is accusing an
intel agent of "semi-intentional murder".
However, the Intel Ministry, which is seen as close to the reformist
Govt, is in turn blaming the judiciary.
The case, which has caused an internat'l uproar, has served to focus
more attention on Iran's human rights record.
It has caused relations between Iran and Canada to nose-dive.
Mandela shines in torch relay
Robben Is, SA (Reuters). Former S Africa president Nelson Mandela
stepped out of retirement on Sat to carry the Olympic flame on Robben
Island, his prison for 18 y.
Mandela was one of 125 athletes and celebrities to carry the torch
through Cape Town and the barren, windswept island on its 6 wk relay
back to Athens for this y's Olympic Games.
"I have been here for a very long time and to a very large extent
Robben Island is a place with which I identify. I am very happy...that
this honour has been given to Robben Island," he said.
The Nobel peace prize winner, who turns 86 next m, visibly struggled
to lift the heavy torch after a runner handed him the flame as he
stood in the courtyard of his former prison.
Mandela spent 18 y of his 27 y prison term during the apartheid era in
the jail.
He formally bowed out of public life 2 wk ago to spend more time with
his family and to complete his memoirs.
Dressed in a blue and red tracksuit with Olympic symbols, Mandela was
presented with a souvenir torch and a commemorative medal by members
of the Athens Olympic Committee.
The torch arrived in Cape Town early on Sat from Cairo on the eighth
stop of its foreign tour of 33 cities. It next travels to Rio de
Janeiro in Brazil.
The flame was lit from the sun's rays in Olympia on March 25 and will
travel to the 5 continents represented by the Olympic Rings.
The torch returns to Greece on July 9 for a final tour before entering
the Olympic stadium in Athens to light the cauldron on Aug 13.
Former servant admits lying about Prince Charles
London (AFP). A former servant to Brit's royal family who said he saw
Prince Charles in a "compromising position" has admitted he made the
allegation up, according to a newspaper report.
George Smith's allegations last y threatened to severely damage the
Brit monarchy.
He has now told the Sun Telegraph newspaper that the story was a
complete fabrication.
He sold his story to another Brit newspaper last Nov but a court
injunction banned the Brit media from printing details of the allegation.
This left Buckingham Palace in the curious position of issuing a
formal statement denying the incident took place, yet not being able
to say what exactly was being denied.
According to the Sun Telegraph, Mr Smith made the allegations after
being paid 60,000 pounds by another Sun newspaper.
In conversations with the Sun Telegraph, secretly recorded by the
paper, Mr Smith said he would be happy to rescind the story for a
similar sum.
Asked what his position now was, Smith said: "I didn't see him
[Charles] in a compromising position. The reason I said that was
because I was angry with" another royal servant, whose name is
suppressed under the court order.
Mr Smith was quoted by the paper as saying he would swear to a legal
document rejecting his own allegations.
Rescue helicopter makes emergency landing
Sydney. The Westpac rescue helicopter had to make an emergency
landing in SYD last night. A rep for the helicopter service, Peter
Mangles, says a fire in the cabin forced them to land at Darling
Harbour at 8:00pm (AEST). The crew investigated the cause of the
fire, finding a problem with a power lead. They headed back to their
base at Mascot shortly afterwards. The helicopter was returning from
the Royal N Shore Hospital and no patients were on board.
Dancers find its hip to be square
Hobart. The Aussie Square Dancing Convention in Hobart has attracted
750 participants from as far afield as NZ, Japan and England. Some
Aussie square dancers have been attending the event for more than 50
y. But no-one has attended as many Aussie square dance conventions as
Graham Rigby. He started calling dances in 1953. Mr Rigby says the
dancing is not the only thing that keeps him coming back. "Fun and
friendship and the music and all the good times that we have
together," he said. Ella Whyte has been attending the conventions for
nearly as long. Mrs Whyte says part of the hook for her is the chance
to dance in a colourful frilly skirt and a petticoat. "I loved it
from the 1st moment I saw it," she said. The convention finishes on Mon.
Farmers counteract city"s "bambi mentality"
Sydney. The body overseeing feral animal control in NSW is looking at
how to combat what officials describe as a 'bambi mentality' they say
exists among some city people. Concerns were raised at this wk's
Rural Lands Protection Board state conference that the eradication of
animals such as dogs, horses, pigs and deer has become an emotive
issue which risks hampering control efforts. The chairman of the
board's Pest Animals Committee, Peter Southwell, says the committee
has been asked to look at ways to combat that mentality. "A lot of
the people coming out from the city areas into our country areas, for
example around Goulburn, Yass, these areas, there's a different
perception to what the city people are bringing with them," he said.
Wrong directions leave injured teen stranded
Bambill, Vic. An injured teenager waited more than 3 hr in the Vicn
scrub for a S Aussie ambulance after he gave the wrong directions.
The youth called for help on his mobile phone at about 5.30 pm ACST
yesterday, saying he had fallen off his trail bike in the Murray
Sunset Nat'l Park, E of the SA border. The ambulance crews searched
for almost 3 hr before the youth again called giving his location as
45 km inside Vic, near the town of Bambill. He was eventually found
and taken to the Renmark Hospital. He was then flown to the Royal
Adel for treatment to a broken leg.
Trade agreement is final: Vaile
No room to amend FTA: Vaile.
Canberra. Fed Trade Min Mark Vaile has warned there is no room for
negotiation as AUS and the US consider whether to approve their
proposed free trade agreement. The deal is expected to go to a vote
of the US Congress within 4 weeks. A series of enabling bills will
also be introduced to the Aussie Parliament by the end of this m. The
Labor Party is yet to declare whether it will support the agreement,
saying it is still assessing its potential impact. But Mr Vaile has
told Channel 7 the deal must be passed, without changes, if it is to
go ahead. "It's very finely balanced, both politically and
economically and if we try to unpick or amend any part of it then the
whole thing will fall apart," he said. "The agreement must stand as
it is for both sides because it is that finely balanced. "There is no
opportunity to start looking for ways of amending it."
Union to establish aged care hotline
Darwin. The Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union is
setting up a nat'l aged care hotline for workers in the sector to
report mismanagement and abuse. The hotline will also be open to take
general questions. Amanda Rigby from the union's NT branch says she
hopes the service will be running by the end of July. "It's just been
a necessity that we've come across in our own line of work," she said.
"The union gets quite a few strange calls, quite often from a
patient's family and we thought we just needed to set something up so
that patients, families, relatives can have the ability to just pick
the phone up and ring somebody and say look 'what do I do'."
Nat'l holiday road toll reaches 12
Sydney. Police are warning motorists to be vigilant after a horror
start to the long weekend seeing 12 fatalities nationwide. 3 of those
have been pedestrians. In Qld, 5 people have died in separate
accidents in the last day, bringing the state's road toll for the
holiday to six. 3 of those died last night when their car rolled nr
Kingaroy. A 45-yo S Tasn woman has been killed. In Vic, a man has
died at Omeo and a 73-yo pedestrian was killed in Mildura. In New S
Wales, 2 of the 3 fatalities have also been pedestrians. The NSW
traffic cmdr John Hartley has made a plea for all motorists and
pedestrians to take care. "It can happen anytime, anywhere, so be
alert, be careful, slow down and drive to that road condition," he
said. The ACT and N Territory are fatality free.
Vanstone pays tribute to former ATSIC head
Darwin. The fed Min overseeing the abolition of ATSIC will today pay
tribute to one of the organisation's former leaders at a ceremony in
Arnhem Land, Mr Djerrkura. Indigenous Affairs Min Amanda Vanstone
spent yesterday at the Barunga Aboriginal Cultural Festival nr
Katherine. Today she will pay her respects to the late Mr Djerrkura
-- the head of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission
(ATSIC) between 1996 to 1999. Mr Djerrkura was a traditional Wangurri
elder and was respected in the wider community as a strong leader
during his time as ATSIC chair. Sen Vanstone arrives in Yirrkala
after a number of summits in the Top End last wk to discuss the way
Indigenous people will be represented after the abolition of ATSIC.
The N Territory Chief Min, Clare Martin, will join Sen Vanstone at
today's memorial service.
Min encourages healthy eating in communities
Darwin. Fed Indigenous Affairs Min Amanda Vanstone says supermarket
chains are eager to join a scheme providing nutritious food to remote
Aboriginal community stores. Sen Vanstone announced a $1.5 mn grant
to the remote community stores program which is driven by the Fred
Hollows Foundation and a nat'l supermarket chain. Sen Vanstone
believes it can be applied to remote community stores across the N
Territory. "We hope to spread this eventually right around to all
Indigenous communities so that when you say to kids 'you've got to eat
well' that actually means something, because they can get that food at
the local store."
Dignitaries join memorial for ATSIC leader
Darwin. A memorial service for former ATSIC chairman Mr Djerrkura has
begun in the small Aboriginal community of Yirrkala in E Arnhem Land.
Dignitaries from around AUS have travelled to Mr Djerrkura's home to
pay their respects to the snr Yolgnu elder of the Wanguri clan. He
has been described at the semi-traditional service as a fighter and
warrior. Mr Djerrkura was the head of the Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Commission from 1996 until 1999. He was awarded the
Order of AUS Medal in 1984 for services to the Aboriginal community.
Those attending the service include fed Indigenous Affairs Min Amanda
Vanstone and N Territory Chief Min Clare Martin. Mr Djerrkura was 54
when he passed away.
Greens expect parliament boost
Canberra (AAP). Greens leader Bob Brown predicted the party would at
least double its numbers in the fed parliament after this y's election.
The party currently has 2 senators and one lower house MP, Michael
Organ, in the NSW seat of Cunningham.
"I think we'll at least double our numbers in the parliament," Sen
Brown told Channel 10.
"I notice almost wall-to-wall people are predicting that Michael Organ
won't win in Cunningham. I think he will.
"He's a very good local member; Independents and small party people
[are] going back into the parliament."
Sen Brown said Cunningham was among the seats Labor considered for
high-profile recruit Peter Garrett, to run against Mr Organ. But the
ALP decided against the move.
He said the fact that the Greens were in place in Cunningham and
pushing environmental issues was starting to make the big parties
change their agenda.
Poll backs Labor's star recruit
Poll finds wide support for Peter Garrett.
Sydney. Labor's latest high-profile recruit, environmentalist and
former Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett, appears to have struck a
chord with voters.
A Newspoll survey published in the Sun Telegraph has found 39 per cent
of those questioned agree Mr Garrett will be good for Labor, more than
double the number who disagreed.
The poll found 26% thought his candidacy would make a Labor govt more
likely, compared with 13% who believed it would harm the party's
electoral prospects.
However, 70% of those polled generally favoured lesser-known local
candidates to outside celebrities.
Labor's fed president, Carmen Lawrence, thinks Mr Garrett be an asset
for the party.
"He'll be very attractive to a lot of younger people, although as
people point out to me his music has been around a long time," she said.
"But I think it's his activism, his passion and commitment that
attract a lot of people.
"Political parties can get awfully stale very quickly.
"We've got a new leader who's got the same sort of passion and
commitment and he's given us momentum, and as we broaden our appeal I
think it'll mean more people will look to us as an alternative govt."
Govt rolls out promised $600 family payment
Canberra. The Fed Govt will begin paying a promised bonus of $600 per
child to about 2 mn families from this Wed. It will go to those
receiving the Family Tax Benefit Part A. The payment will be promoted
through an advertising campaign, which will also highlight a $1,000
bonus to those receiving carer payments and a $600 payment to those on
the carer allowance.
Greens candidate to stand against Garrett
Sydney. The Aussie Greens will stand a candidate against Labor's star
recruit, former Aussie Conservation Foundation president Peter
Garrett. Greens Sen Bob Brown has praised the former Midnight Oil
lead singer, describing him as a very ethical person and a great asset
to the Labor Party. But Sen Brown has told Channel 10 that does not
mean the Greens will withdraw from the contest for the SYD seat of
Kingsford Smith, where Mr Garrett is standing for the ALP. "I'll
remain good friends with Peter, but I'm a Green and the Greens are in
their selection process, I think it'll be completed in a week or 2,"
he said. "I know there's good candidates in offering."
Garrett "puts Tassie forests in spotlight"
Sydney. The Nat'l Tarkine Coalition has welcomed environmentalist and
former Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett's move into fed politics.
Group rep Phillip Pullinger says nat'l rallies on World Environment
Day have already made Tas's forests the top environmental issue for
the election. Mr Garrett has joined the Labor Party and is likely to
be chosen as the ALP candidate for the safe seat of Kingsford Smith in
SYD. Mr Pullinger says Mr Garrett's early commentary on Tas's forest
industry will cement the issue in the election spotlight. "There's no
doubt that the environment is absolutely one of the key issues in the
fed election and that Tas's forests are going to be at the forefront
in terms of environmental issues that need to be solved," he said.
"Whichever of the major parties manages to find a way forward and get
protection of these forests -- that's going to be the key thing."
3 extradited to Qld over bank robberies
Brisbane. 3 men have been extradited from NSW to Bris charged over a
string of bank robberies in Qld. The extraditions follow a major
police operation targeting crimes against financial institutions. 9
detectives have escorted the men to Bris on a police jet. They are
accused of robbing banks in N and S Qld in Jan, Feb and March. 2 of
the alleged offenders, aged 30 and 22, from SYD face charges including
armed robbery and unlawful use of a motor vehicle. Another man aged
23 faces similar charges and one count of robbery with violence. All
3 are expected to appear in the Bris Magistrates Court next wk.
Police say the investigation is continuing and further people are
likely to be charged.
Nat'l abuse inquiry needed, church told
Lobby group pushes for nat'l inquiry into Anglican abuse.
Hobart. The Anglican church is under pressure to allow scrutiny of
the way it has handled allegations of child sex abuse by clergy in all
Aussie dioceses. A Tasn-based child abuse support group says the
Anglican Archbishop of Adel is not the only snr member of the church
guilty of neglect and incompetence. Archbishop Ian George resigned
last wk after an independent inquiry into the Adel diocese found he
had mishandled allegations of child sex abuse by clergy. Survivors
Confronting Child Abuse and Rape (SCCAR) believes other senior
officials of the church are implicated and Archbishop George should
not be made the scapegoat for an endemic problem. Rep David Gould
says a nat'l inquiry is warranted. "Our understanding is that kind of
process has worked right across the nation, certainly it's been shown
in Tas," he said. SCCAR has also called on the Fed Govt to convene a
royal commission into the broader issue of institutional child sex abuse.
Police make $2.4m drug bust
Nabiac, NSW. Police on NSW's mid-north coast claim to have uncovered
a major amphetamine-producing operation. They say drug squad officers
found a clandestine laboratory and drugs with an estimated street
value of $2.4 mn during a raid yesterday on a rural property at
Nabiac, nr Taree. Chemicals used in the manufacture of
methylamphetamine or speed were also seized. Police rep Sonia Roberts
says 3 people have been arrested. "The 2 men and a woman were taken
to Taree police station and charged with 2 counts of manufacturing a
large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug," she said. "The woman
was charged with knowingly taking part in the manufacture of a
prohibited drug." The 3 people will appear in Port Macquarie Local
Court on Sun.
Min attacks WA judiciary over mass escape
Perth police have launched a massive manhunt after the break-out.
Perth. Western Aussie Justice Min Michelle Roberts has attacked the
state's judiciary, saying some of its decisions may have contributed
to a mass escape of prisoners at the Supreme Court.
Mrs Roberts has been under fire since 9 prisoners broke out of the
court's holding cell on Thu.
She responded with scathing criticism of her dept, saying it let her down.
She has now attacked the judiciary.
Mrs Roberts says while it is not wholly to blame for the escape,
security has been compromised by its refusal to support the widespread
use of video links in place of in person court appearances, and the
use of handcuffs and shackles on prisoners.
"Especially when they're not appearing before a jury, there shouldn't
be any difficulty in having a prisoner shackled," she said.
But the Criminal Lawyers Association's John Prior says shackles could
have a prejudicial effect, even on judges, and it is up to the Govt to
provide adequate security.
"The answer is to have appropriate security guards for the appropriate
number of people appearing in court or the appropriate risk of those
people," he said.
Man beats horse in 35km race
Llanwrtyd, Wales (AFP). An annual Brit race that pits people against
horses in a gruelling course across fields and over hills has seen the
1st human winner in its 25-y history.
A 27-yo info technology consultant who is also a leading amateur
runner triumphed in the 35 km "man versus horse" competition at
Llanwrtyd Wells in Wales.
Huw Lobb came home in 2 hr, 5 minutes, just more than 2 minutes ahead
of the 1st horse and rider.
The feat won him 25,000 pounds, a prize which has been accumulating by
1,000 pounds a y throughout the history of the race.
"I was the 4th Briton to finish the London marathon this y so I have
been in training for a long time now. But the race is very different
-- I have been up and down mountains today," he said.
2 y ago a runner came within a few seconds of victory but bookmakers
William Hill still offered 16-1 against a man winning this weekend's race.
A record 566 runners from Brit and other parts of Europe took part,
challenging 47 horses and their riders.
The result completed a sad double for the equine species. Earlier this
month, a greyhound beat a racehorse in a special match race over 400 m
at Kempton Park, nr London.
The greyhound, called Simply Fabulous, scorched home 7 [horse] lengths
clear in 23 seconds.
{{
Midnight.
Srinagar. 4 people have been killed in a grenade attack on a touristy
hotel in Kashmir. The dead incl 2 tourists -- one of them a 6 yo
girl. 20 people were also wounded in the attack. The grenade blast
set off a cooking gas canister in a restaurant, amplifying the
explosion. The attack comes just as the flow of tourists had been
increasing, with accommodation in the valley tight. A rebel group has
claimed responsibility. It rang the BBC in Srinagar saying the attack
was a warning to villagers that Kashmir was still disputed territory.
In Iraq, 1 Lebanese hostage has been found murdered. The scene was
reportedly "gruesome". The man had been dumped along with the bodies
of 2 Iraqis on a highway outside of Baghdad. Elsewhere, 7 foreign
nationals were released in Fallujah.
James Baker has resigned as the US mediator in the W Sahara dispute.
Spain pulled out of the area in 1975, allowing Morocco to invade.
Morocco has refused to allow any loss of sovereignty over the area.
The Olympic flame has arrived in S Africa. Nelson Mandela briefly came
out of retirement again [!!] to hold the flame in his old cell on
Robben Island. An athlete then ran the flame around the island.
1 am
Alcohol poisoning has killed 12 people in Iran. Another 12 are
reportedly in critical condition. At least 5 have gone blind. The
poisonings happened in the city of Shiraz. First results from PM's
say the victims were poisoned by methanol -- sometimes added to drinks
to boost their potency. Hospitals had reported a sudden rush of
poisoning cases on Thu night. But because alcohol is banned in Iran,
it took a while to track down the cause. 14 suspects have already
been arrested. Police say the investigation is being hampered by
families who are reluctant to talk. Christians and Jews are allowed to
drink in private.
2 am
Pak air and ground forces have been hitting insurgent positions along
the Afghan border in S Waziristan for a 4th day. The army says they
are attacking al-Qaeda bases. Pak officials say 54 rebels have been
killed since Wed. Locals say they saw air strikes and heard
artillery fire as the offensive continued.
Saudi. News just in. An un-ID westerner has been shot dead in
Riyadh. Saudi officials say militants carried out the shooting.
Police are reportedly in pursuit of 2 suspects.
Exit poll in Ireland. Voters have backed a const'l amendment to
tighten naturalisation laws. Ireland is the last member of the EU to
allow any baby born on its soil to have automatic citizenship. 76% of
voters backed changes to remove the right. The govt says too many
pregnant foreign women travel to Ireland to get EU passport for their
unborn children.
The Uganda govt says it's started to distribute free AIDS drugs. The
program is funded by the World Bank and Global Fund on AIDS.
3 am
An American has been shot dead in Riyadh as he was about to drive to
work. Police are in pursuit of 2 men.
One of the longest-standing prizes has finally been won. After 25 y,
a man has beaten a horse in a foot race over 33 km. There were more
than 500 entrants in this y's event. But a Londoner won the #25,000
first prize in 2 hr and 5 min.
In Russia, 1000s have attended a parade in Red Square. It's Russia's
Independence Day, marking the country's break-away from the SU. Pres
Putin talked about the need for patriotism and nat'l unity. The
parade was packed with images from the past.
Brit local elections. Only 2 of 5 mn voters turned out. 26% voted
Labour. But 38% voted Tory. Some Labour members are now calling for
Blair to step down as PM. Robin Cook is calling for Blair to "adopt a
new tone". You don't win elections by telling voters they're wrong
and we're right, said Cook. In London, Ken Livingston won the mayoral
race for the 2nd time in a row.
3.45 am
80 to 1 outsider Greece is leading Portugal 2 nil in the soccer cup.
[Later went on to win!]
7 am
A group claiming links with al-Qaeda has claimed on a web site they've
killed 1 American and kidnapped another American engineer in Riyadh.
They say it's in revenge for the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and
Guantmo prisons. The US Embassy says it's trying to location the hostage.
15 candidates are standing in the Serbian presid'l elections. The
hard-line candidate heads the opinion polls. Another former head of
the same party is on trial for war crimes in The Hague. Observers
fear Serbia is about to revert to the narrow-minded nationalism of the
Milosevic era.
Aussie Immig Min Amanda Vanstone is overseeing the wind-up of ATSIC.
She attended a number of summits last wk to discuss the way aboriginal
people will be represented afterward.
Midday.
Labor's latest high-profile recruit, environmentalist and former Midnight
Oil singer Peter Garrett, appears to have struck a chord with voters.
Rank-and-file Labor Party members in Qld have applauded Peter
Garrett's membership of the party.
The Aussie Greens will stand a candidate against Labor's star recruit,
former Aussie Conservation Foundation president Peter Garrett.
The Nat'l Tarkine Coalition has welcomed environmentalist and former
Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett's move into fed politics.
The US-led coalition has handed over patrol boats and inflatable craft
to Iraq's newly formed Coastal Defence Force, which it has been
training since Jan.
Muslim leaders in Iraq say they are close to reaching a final
agreement with rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr.
Iraqi insurgents have killed a Lebanese citizen and his 2 Iraqi
colleagues and are holding a number of other Lebanese hostage, sources
at Beirut's Foreign Ministry say.
Fed Opp'n leader Mark Latham says he takes no encouragement from
election results in Brit, where voters have punished the ruling Labour
Party for supporting the war in Iraq.
7 Turkish hostages seized in Iraq this wk have been freed, a Turkish
diplomat says.
A US helicopter has made a forced landing N of Baghdad and 2 American
soldiers are hurt, the US military says.
FM Alexander Downer says that Opp'n leader Mark Latham has
inexperience in nat'l affairs.
4 pm
There's been a tragic end to the search for a 4 yo boy lost in a
Tassie pine plantation. The child's body has been spotted from a
rescue helicopter. More than 100 people searched the forest o'night
after the boy wandered away from his father yesterday.
5 pm
Another Iraqi Min has been shot down in front of his home, in the W
subs of Baghdad. He was the culture and education min. Yesterday,
the dep FM and most snr diplomat of the iraqi govt was shot in front
of his home in Baghdad's N. Also, a Sunni religious leader was gunned
down in Kirkuk yesterday.
Iraq's first private TV network has hit the airwaves. Reps say it
plans to compete with the US-sponsored Arab-language network and Al-Jazeera.
5.30 pm
VEGEMITE HELL! 85,000 Aussie jews, as well as angry Jews in the UK
and Israel, are unhappy little Vegemites after Kraft announced it is
no longer able to maintain the kosher regime for Australia's favourite spread.
6 pm
Suicide car bombing in Baghdad. A car has pulled up alongside a police
car and exploded. At least 2 Iraqi police have been killed.
6.30 pm
At least 12 Iraqis are believed to have been killed in a car bomb
blast in Baghdad a short time ago. The dead incl 4 Iraqi police.
The Iraqi port of Umm Qasr has been handed over to the Iraqi Navy.
They have been trained by Brit forces. iraqi naval police have
started patrolling the port area.
The POW abuse scandal continues to plague the Bush Admin. The
WashPost says the US top cmdr in Iraq personally approved the abusive
treatments. They've obtained a document that shows Ricardo Sanchez in
Sep approved the use of military dogs to "frighten prisoners", allow
stress positions for up to 45 mins, and to deprive POW's of food and
water. Observers say the document shows clear contradictions of the
prev US positions, as well as the Geneva Conventions. Last m Sanchez
denied approving any such tactics. He was then relieved of command
under the guise of "rotation back to the US".
6.40 pm
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has urged anyone with info on extremist
groups in the Kingdom to come directly to him.
A bomb has exploded outside the home of a snr officer of the frontier
police in Karachi. The blast killed at least one person. The attack
came as Pak launched a major offensive against al-Qaeda and other
insurgents along its border with Afghanistan. No-one has claimed
responsibility for the bombing.
7 pm
An Iraqi official has told the ABC that a deal is about to be
announced that will bring permanent peace to Najaff and Kufa. The
deal apparently involves a speedy trial for rebel cleric Moqtada
al-Sadr. The Americans reportedly want the trial immediately.
Greece's Public Order Min has again chided AUS for maintaining a
travel warning to Athens. He says the warning is having a negative
impact on the Olympic Games. The travel advisory follows 3 blasts in
sub'n Athens last m. The Min says AUS over-reacted to a minor
incident. AUS should be encouraging the success of the Games, not
warning people off, he told ABC TV. The Greek govt hopes AUS will
scrap the travel alert next m.
The Vic govt is creating a new court system to try domestic violence.
It estimates 80% of women still don't report the crimes. 29,000
domestic violence cases were reported last y. The new courts will
have the power to send men to counselling for violent behaviour.
Magistrates won't be allowed to sit on the courts unless they have
appropriate training. 2 courts will be up next y, with the Vic govt
committing more than $5 mn over 5 y to the new system.
8.30 pm
The EP elections are entering their main phase. 9 countries going to
the polls.
The top quark has been measured at around 178 GeV -- around 180 times
heaver than a proton.
}}
----------------------------------------
Mon, 14 Jun 2004.
HEADLINES:
12 die in suicide bombing as violence rocks Iraq
Turkish, Egyptian hostages freed in Iraq, mediator says
Transport company returns from Iraq
Powell speaks on Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia
Iraqi professor assassinated
Iraq's Al-Sadr to form political party
Iraq to bring back visas
Iraq Pres won't destroy Abu Ghraib prison
"Big Brother" evictee stages silent refugee protest
"Jihadists" free Turk, Egyptian hostages
140 Bangladeshi fishermen missing in storm
26 former US officials oppose Bush
ALP, Democrats to oppose electoral law changes
Al-Aqsa claims Israeli troops target leader
Al-Jazeera airs American's execution
Analysts predict re-assuring Greenspan comments
Antarctic filming lands Croc Hunter in hot water
Anti-globalisation rallies target WEF meeting
Aussies unearth ancient Egyptian cemeteries
Bin Laden bodyguard held at Guantanamo: report
Blair, Schroeder, Chirac allies lose EU elections
Brit allows diplomatic staff to leave Saudi Arabia
Burma arrests 2 Suu Kyi party members
Canada recruits workers from Mexico
Coalition to hold 5,000 prisoners after sovereignty
Corruption claims hit peak crime-fighting body
Crop-dusters may self-regulate safety
Drug syndicates "making own ingredients"
EU voters send no-confidence message in low poll
European voters lash governing parties
Flood-menaced population to double by 2050, UN says
Gallop refuses to play escape "blame game"
Govts brace for EU ballot rebuff
Gregan, Jones among honours recipients
High cancer rates worry submarine veterans
India questions alleged nuclear secrets salesman
Kenyan MPs urge disaster declaration
Labor denies withdrawal would "humiliate" AUS
No more dunes for me, says Simpson conqueror
Olympic torch paraded through Rio
Pakistan arrests key Al Qaeda suspect
Powell praises Saudi anti-terrorism efforts
Powell: Terrorism report a "big mistake"
Racial tension sparks Congo war threat
Sadr City clashes kill 5
Sadr plans political party
Settlers bid to thwart pullout plan
Stand-off continues at MEL service station
Thousands welcome freed Kurdish activists
Trials test new Crohn's disease treatment
US election hostilities resume
US foreign policy condemned
US gas prices see first drop of year
US pushes Europe to get tougher on Iran nuke plans
WA Opp'n wants Justice Min stood down
WEF protesters clash with police
We almost caught bin Laden: Karzai
Worldwide inequality spreading: UN
Canada recruits workers from Mexico
Saltillo, Mexico (AP). While the US struggles to strike a balance
between labour shortages and the illegal entrance of 1000s of Mexican
migrants, Canada is sending recruiters into the mountains and cities
of Mexico in search of workers.
More than 10,000 Mexicans work in Canada each year, mainly in the
provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Manitoba.
The program was started to help fill worker shortages in agriculture,
but has been so successful that Canadian officials are expanding it to
urban, unemployed Mexicans who seek the low-skill jobs that Canadians
don't want, in construction, the hotel industry and meat packing plants.
Canada 1st allowed in foreign workers from the Caribbean in 1966 and 8
y later some 200 Mexican labourers were hired. Today, about 5,000
Caribbean workers also participate, but Mexico contributes the highest
number of migrants.
"This is a win-win situation," said Julian Anzaldua, of the Mexican
Coahuila state employment service, which contracts guest workers.
"Unfortunately, we don't have employment opportunities for many of our
workers here, and in Canada they work with all the protections any
Canadian worker would have."
To qualify, Mexican workers must be offered a job by a Canadian
employer who can't find employees locally. The employer pays for
transportation costs between Mexico City and Canada, and about a third
of the costs are later deducted from the employee's wages.
Contracted migrants can work from 6 wk to 8 m, are guaranteed minimum
wages, a 40-hr wk and free housing, Anzaldua said.
A reliable pool of qualified workers has allowed the agricultural
industry to expand, creating more job opportunities for foreign and
domestic workers, said Dave Greenhill, snr policy adviser for Canada's
Human Resources and Skill Development Dept.
The program is similar to a proposal in the US made this year by Pres
Bush. Under his plan, which must be approved by Congress, Mexican
workers with US job offers could receive temporary visas if they can
prove no Americans want to fill the jobs.
The US Dept of Labor already has a program that allows about 45,000
Mexicans to work legally in agriculture jobs every year, but critics
say the immigration process is too cumbersome and expensive.
Employers also say the number of workers allowed is not enough to meet
labour shortages.
The US govt says an estimated 52% of agricultural workers are
undocumented, but farm labour and industry groups estimate that number
is closer to 85%.
Striking a balance between the agricultural industry's needs and
security concerns after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack has
proven difficult. While several bills proposing temporary worker
programs have been introduced, all have faced opp'n in Congress.
Critics of the Canadian program say foreign agricultural workers are
denied basic rights, including overtime wages and claiming health and
unemployment benefits they pay for. Michael Forman, a rep with
Canada's United Food and Commercial Workers Union, said workers are
not aware of their rights and many times are afraid to file a
complaint against their employers.
"If they complain, they can find themselves on a plane back home,"
Forman said. "The whole game is loaded against them."
Greenhill denied the rights of workers are violated and said there is
a great deal of oversight by Mexican and Canadian authorities built
into the program to ensure Mexican workers benefit from it.
"To say workers can't collect unemployment or health insurance
benefits is erroneous," Greenhill said. "There are a number of claims
that have been made but I think the workers prefer to be fully
employed than to have to collect [benefits]."
One worker, Jesus Rodriguez, who harvested tobacco in Quebec last
year, said the program offers financial opportunities and peace of mind.
"You go there without fear because everyone there knows you're there
legally," said Rodriguez, who has worked legally in farms in New York
and N Dakota. "In the US, people look at you differently. They look at
you as an illegal even if you have your permit."
In Mexico, Rodriguez earns about $500 per m working for a construction
company as a carpenter and painter. In Canada, he's able to make twice
as much.
Rodriguez plans to work at the same Canadian tobacco farm starting in
July. While he likes the job, he said working on isolated farms and
not having access to familiar food are drawbacks.
"The food in Quebec is tasteless, and it's hard to find chile or
beans," he said. "But you know it won't be like that forever."
The Mexican govt requires migrants be at least 25 y old, have
experience in farm work and have families to support before they can
leave for Canada.
Having workers with financial dependents -- children, parents,
brothers and sisters -- helps ensure they will return, said Jaime
Botello of Mexico's Labor Dept.
"We have very few people who break their contracts, and about 80% of
the workers who travel to Canada have already worked there," Botello said.
Of the more than 10,000 Mexican workers who worked in Canada in 2003,
780 broke their contracts. Most left for personal reasons or because
there wasn't enough work, Botello said.
US gas prices see first drop of year
LA (AP). A boost in gasoline production and a dip in oil prices have
led to the 1st nationwide drop this y in gas prices at the pump, an
industry analyst said Sun.
The weighted nat'l average price for all 3 grades of gasoline was
$2.04 per gallon on Fri after rising more than 59 cents since mid-Dec,
said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the biweekly Lundberg Survey,
which regularly polls nearly 8,000 gas stations across the US.
The average price for all grades on the last survey in May was
slightly above $2.10/gal.
"Whether for the rest of the summer gas prices will continue to trend
down depends on OPEC's follow-through to increase oil output and how
strong our gasoline demand turns out to be," Lundberg said Sun. "We
always consume the most in June, July and Aug."
The drop at the pump also reflects an effort by refiners to maximise
their gasoline production and increase supply to meet summer driving demand.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies more
than a 3rd of the world's crude, announced earlier this m that it
would raise its official daily production quota by more than 2 mn
barrels to 26 mn barrels and, if necessary, by an additional 500,000
barrels on Aug 1.
Crude oil prices, which have been hovering above $40/bbl in recent
weeks, settled at $38.45/bbl Thu on the NY Mercantile Exchange.
The nat'l weighted average price of a gallon of gasoline at self-serve
pumps on Fri, including taxes, was about $2.01 for regular, $2.11 for
midgrade and $2.20 for premium.
Tulsa, Okla, had the lowest average price of any city, with self-serve
regular selling for about $1.75. The highest prices were found in the
SF Bay area, at $2.32, Lundberg said.
Anti-globalisation rallies target WEF meeting
Seoul (AFP). South Korean police are on alert to protect a regional
economic forum as 1000s of activists hold an anti-globalisation rally.
About 10,000 riot police have maintained a tight blockade around a
hotel in Seoul where more than 100 economic officials and corporate
executives have gathered for the forum. The 2-day forum, named the
Asia Strategic Insight Round Table, is a regional session of the World
Economic Forum (WEF). About 3,500 civic group and labour activists are
rallying at a park 5 km away from the hotel, claiming the forum is
aimed at opening trade markets of developing countries. The
protesters, including 100 foreign activists from Japan, India and
other Asian countries, have placards reading "No globalisation" and
"Asia is not for sale." "Globalisation pushed by advanced countries
is causing trouble to workers and farmers in Asia," they said. The
agenda of the forum includes info and telecommunication technology,
out-sourcing strategies and the Chinese currency and other economic issues.
WEF protesters clash with police
Seoul (AFP). Angry scuffles have erupted in the S Korean capital as
around 10,000 anti-globalisation demonstrators protest at a meeting of
the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The regional meeting of the WEF has been called to chart Asia's
economic growth strategy.
Accusing the Geneva-based group of pushing for free trade at the
expense of Asia's poor, protesters chanting slogans against
globalisation have marched on police barricades.
Witnesses say at least 3 demonstrators have been taken to hospital to
have head wounds treated following scuffles with police wielding
shields and batons.
Demonstrators, including farmers, labour union leaders and 100 foreign
activists from Japan, India and other Asian countries, are holding
placards reading "No globalisation" and "Asia is not for sale."
Several thousand riot police are ringing the downtown hotel where 180
officials and business leaders from 21 countries are gathering for the
regional Davos-style economic forum.
The protesters, whom police say number around 10,000, denounce the
forum as a pro-globalisation lobby harmful to the developing world.
"We oppose WEF [World Economic Forum]. Globalisation pushed by
advanced countries is causing trouble to workers and farmers in Asia,"
the organisers said in a statement.
The WEF has expressed regret over the protest, saying S Korean civic
groups have "a misunderstanding about the WEF's nature."
It says the forum "is aimed to bring peace, stability and prosperity
to the world through cooperation".
Analysts predict re-assuring Greenspan comments
Alan Greenspan will face Congress members this wk.
Washington (Reuters). Analysts expect US Fed Reserve chairman Alan
Greenspan to display his inflation-fighting credentials on Capitol
Hill this wk, even as he seeks to assure politicians the central bank
wants a vigorous expansion.
Dr Greenspan goes before the Senate Banking Committee on Tue as it
considers the 78-yo central banker's nomination for a fifth, and
final, term at the Fed's helm.
The panel is expected to vote on the nomination within days of the
hearing, paving the way for full Senate approval before Dr Greenspan's
current term expires on June 20.
As always, financial markets will examine the Fed chief's comments
closely for any hints on the interest-rate outlook.
A quickening of inflation has investors on alert for signals on how
fast and how far rates will rise.
Fed officials seemed keen last wk to ease any worries that the central
bank was behind the inflation curve.
Dr Greenspan said early in the wk that while the Fed should be able to
be "measured" in raising borrowing costs, it will do what it must to
keep inflation from spinning out of control.
Analysts say he is likely to deliver a similar message on Tue.
The Fed is expected to lift short-term interest rates from their
current 1958 low of 1% after a meeting on June 29-30.
It would be the 1st rate hike in 4 y and analysts expect it will be
the 1st of many.
Former Fed governor Susan Phillips said: "He'll probably get pressed
on inflation and how aggressively they'll tighten up."
She noted that many investors wonder if they should brace for a repeat
of 1994, when rates shot up from 3% to 6% during the year.
Fed officials on Fri tackled the 1994 question. Atlanta Fed president
Jack Guynn said he did not see a repeat of those rapid rises and
Sandra Pianalto, head of the Cleveland Fed, ticked off differences
between then and now.
But the word on almost every Fed official's lips last wk was
credibility -- essential for keeping inflation expectations from
taking hold.
Wall Street and Main Street must have faith in the Fed's ability to
keep prices stable to prevent a self-reinforcing spiral where
expectations for higher costs lead to rising wage demands and business
price rises.
"When you talk about Greenspan's legacy, you've got to say he
certainly has great credibility in inflation fighting," said Greg
Valliere of Schwab Soundview Capital Markets.
"I don't think at this stage of his career he wants to jeopardise that.
"I think he'll still sound agnostic on whether we are about to see a
significant rise in inflation but I think he has to sound a little
more vigilant in terms of the Fed's response if we do get some more
signs of inflation."
Analysts say DR Greenspan will probably leaven his rate-hike talk with
optimistic words on the economy.
"It's a balancing act as the Fed always faces," said Investors
Security Trust Company chairman David Jones, a veteran Fed watcher.
"You want to contain inflation but you do not want to knock this
expansion off the tracks."
Nomination hearings are rarely the venue for detailed economic
exposition. If history is a guide, Dr Greenspan's opening remarks will
likely be brief.
His nomination is expected to be smooth sailing.
"If the economy were really not showing signs of improvement, it might
be possible that there could be a little bit of political posturing,"
said Ms Phillips, who expects Dr Greenspan to be received warmly.
Kenyan MPs urge disaster declaration
Nairobi (BBC). A group of Kenyan politicians is urging the Govt to
declare a nat'l disaster after the death of more than 80 people, who
ate contaminated maize. The maize became infected with a poisonous
mould that grows on cereal stored under damp conditions. Over the
past 6 wk, the number of people affected by eating grain contaminated
with a fungus known as aflatoxin has risen steadily. More than 200
have been treated in hospital. At least 80 have died. MPs from the
region are appealing to the Govt to check other stocks for
contamination. They are also calling for fresh supplies of maize to
be distributed. The MPs are calling for donations to set up a fund to
help those affected. The Govt had already started feeding programs in
areas of acute food shortages, which have been worsened by the seizure
of contaminated grain.
140 Bangladeshi fishermen missing in storm
Dhaka (Reuters). Bangladeshi rescuers, battling rough seas, are
searching for around 140 fishermen missing after a storm sank 20 boats
in the Bay of Bengal. Police say 10 bodies have been found. 2 people
have been rescued alive but in critical condition while drifting for
nearly 24 hr of the storm. "The sinking of the boats was reported
late on Sat," Additional Police Superintendent Ataul Kibria said. 15
fishermen had been rescued on Sat but a fishing association says 144
of their colleagues are missing. Around 200 people are estimated to
have died last m when 2 ferries sank during a sudden storm in the
Meghna river.
India questions alleged nuclear secrets salesman
Bombay (Reuters). Immigration authorities at Bombay's internat'l
airport have detained an Indian man suspected of leaking nuclear
secrets to countries in the Middle East, a snr police official says.
Joint commissioner of police Satya Pal Singh says fed intel agencies
have begun interrogating the Dubai-based Indian. The man flew in from
the Gulf late last night local time. "Intel agencies are
interrogating him to find out how far the allegation is true that he
has been selling nuclear secrets to other countries," he said. Mr
Singh says the Dubai police arrested him and deported him to India.
The suspect is still being questioned at the airport. Indian
officials have not said which countries might have acquired secrets.
Powell: Terrorism report a "big mistake"
Washington (AP). A State Dept report that incorrectly showed a
decline last y in terrorism worldwide was a "big mistake," Secretary
of State Colin Powell said Sun.
"Very embarrassing. I am not a happy camper over this. We were wrong,"
the secretary told NBC's "Meet the Press."
Powell said he was working with the CIA, which helped to compile the
data, to determine why the errors got into the report. He said he
planned a meeting on the issue Mon and that the intel agency was
working through the weekend in preparation.
"I'm not saying it is responsible until I sit down with all of the
individuals who had something to do with this report: CIA, my dept,
members of my dept, other agencies that contributed to it," Powell said.
"It's a numbers error. It's not a political judgement that said, 'Let's
see if we can cook the books.' We can't get away with that now. Nobody
was out to cook the books. Errors crept in," he told ABC's "This Week."
He pledged to release a corrected report as quickly as possible.
"I am regretful that this has happened. And we're going to get it
fixed, we're going to get it corrected, and that's the best I can do,"
Powell said.
A leading House Democrat, Rep Henry Waxman of California, had
challenged the findings, contending they were manipulated for
political purposes. The conclusion that terrorism was on the decline
was used to boost one of Pres Bush's chief foreign policy claims,
success in countering terror.
Waxman asked Powell for an explanation and the secretary called last
week to say the mistakes for unintentional.
"He says it wasn't politically motivated so I will accept that,"
Waxman said after their conversation. Still, the lawmaker said, "We
are still left with the fact that this report is useless until it is
corrected."
The Apr report said attacks had declined last y to 190, down from 198
in 2002 and 346 in 2001. The 2003 figure would have been the lowest
level in 34 y and a 45% drop since 2001, Bush's 1st y as president.
The report also showed the virtual disappearance of attacks in which
no one died.
"There's a new terrorist threat info centre that compiles this data
under the CIA. And we are still trying to determine what went wrong
with the data and why we didn't catch it in the State Dept," Powell
said Sun.
"It's a very big mistake. And we are not happy about this big
mistake," he added.
The dept has said that one of the mistakes was that only part of 2003
was taken into account.
When the annual report was issued Apr 29, snr Admin officials used it
as evidence the war was being won under Bush.
"We weren't saying terrorism has gone away. The report clearly says
terrorism is a main problem facing the world today. We've got to
continue going after terrorists," Powell said.
"But based on the data we had within the report, there was a
suggestion that the number of incidents had dropped and it was the
lowest since 1969," he added. "That turns out not to have been
correct. We were wrong. We will correct it."
Powell speaks on Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia
Washington (DefenseLINK News). Security problems continue to be the
main problem confronting the Iraqi people, Secretary of State Colin
L Powell said on NBC's "Meet the Press" today.
With the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi interim govt just 2 wk
away, Powell said the coalition will stay the course in the country. A
democratic Iraq governed under the rule of law, and respecting the
rights of all, would be an example to other countries of the Middle
East, he said.
Still, attacks continue. The second-ranking person in the interim
govt's foreign ministry was murdered June 12, and attacks have been
launched against what Powell called the "courageous Iraqis" who are
trying to make a new Iraq.
Stopping the terrorist attacks and the insurgency is key to rebuilding
Iraq, Powell said, adding that once the violence is tamped down, he
expects the process of rebuilding "will take off."
Conditions in Iraq are better than they were, because the regime of
Saddam Hussein no longer is in power, Powell said.
He said coalition forces will remain in Iraq following the return to
sovereignty, and forces will continue to train and equip Iraqi forces.
Powell said the new UN Sec Council resolution on Iraq -- passed
unanimously earlier this wk -- "approves the way going forward." He
said that even the countries that did not support the US initiative on
Iraq last y -- most notably France and Germany -- recognise that the
internat'l community must not fail. "We must not allow internat'l
terrorism to prevail," Powell said.
Failure in the fight against terrorism in Iraq or Afghanistan is not
an option, the secretary said.
In Afghanistan, much remains to be done, but much has already been
accomplished, Powell said. "Pres Hamid Kharzai ... is a visionary
leader," he said. "When you think of where we were right after the
defeat of the Taliban -- when there wasn't even a single phone working
-- there is now a govt that is functioning. It is slowly but surely
extending its reach out beyond the capital."
Taliban remnants and al Qaeda followers are challenging the Afghan
govt. "They also will have to be defeated," he said. "We will stick
with the Afghan govt as they go about doing this."
Elections in Afghanistan are on track for Sep, Powell said. The
secretary called the increase in opium production in Afghanistan a
"major problem" and one that the Afghan govt and the internat'l
community must deal with.
The Saudi kingdom is not unravelling, but there is a dangerous
situation in Saudi Arabia now, Powell said. Apparently, al Qaeda
operatives in the kingdom have kidnapped American businessman Paul
Johnson. Powell said the terrorists are trying to destabilise Saudi
Arabia -- the largest exporter of petroleum in the world.
He said the Saudis are treating the kidnapping and other terrorist
acts launched against their country seriously, and are counter-attacking.
"They've done some rolling up of these organisations, but clearly this
is a dangerous time for Saudi Arabia, and we're working with them and
cooperating with them in any way we can to defeat these terrorists,"
Powell said.
Govts brace for EU ballot rebuff
Brussels (Reuters). Europeans are completing the election of the 1st
EU parliament since the bloc's expansion, but with a lack of
enthusiasm that spells trouble for many domestic govts.
The 4-day exercise in cross-border democracy reaches its climax as 19
countries vote in the poll that for the 1st time includes members from
behind the old "Iron Curtain", such as Hungary and the Baltic states.
6 others countries -- Ireland, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, the
Czech Republic and Brit -- have already voted.
Brit Prime Min Tony Blair seems set to be punished for his staunch
support for the US-led war in Iraq.
"People use elections in many countries to sanction their govts, with
domestic issues rather than European-dominating debates," analyst John
Palmer said.
The centre-right is forecast to dominate the new assembly as it did
the old, with the Socialists the second-largest group.
Opinion polls suggested the Christian Democratic opp'n in Germany
would rout Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats, which is
beset by a stagnant economy and high unemployment.
French Socialists are expected to profit from anger at the
centre-right Govt's social security reforms.
Voters in many new member states may punish incumbent govts for
corruption and pain caused by free market reforms.
The last polling stations are due to close at 2000 GMT, with first
results expected shortly afterwards.
About 14,700 candidates are contesting 732 seats in the increasingly
powerful Strasbourg-based assembly.
The assembly has a major say on EU corporate regulation, the bloc's
100 bn euro annual budget, and transport, labour and environmental rules.
In a bid to stir public excitement, candidates include a Czech porn
queen, an Estonian supermodel, several sports stars, 2 astronauts and
a Nobel prize winner.
Surveys suggest a low turnout, barely above the record low of 49.8% in 1999.
The turnout reflects popular disenchantment with EU institutions,
which are often perceived as distant and elitist.
Blair, Schroeder, Chirac allies lose EU elections
Brussels (Bloomberg). Allies of UK PM Tony Blair, German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder, French Pres Jacques Chirac and Italian PM Silvio
Berlusconi tumbled in European Parliament elections as voters
protested everything from rising unemployment to the Iraq war.
Blair's Labour party won 23%, compared with 28% for the Conservatives,
according to Brit Broadcasting Corp projections. Schroeder's Social
Democrats scored 21.5%, the party's worst tally in a Germany-wide
election since World War II, preliminary results showed. The opp'n
Christian Democrats and Christian Social Union scored 44.5%.
Exit polls from France, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary
pointed to setbacks for ruling parties there, turning the European
Union's 1st elections since it expanded to 25 nations last m into a
continent-wide repudiation of a 9.1% jobless rate and the role of some
countries in Iraq.
Voters "from London to Luebeck sought and found a vent for their
frustration," said Peter Lockhofen, who helps manage the equivalent of
$3.5 bn at DZ Capital Management GmbH in Frankfurt. "As a trend with
an unmistakable future, that should be worrisome for Europe's big parties."
The EU-wide vote has no direct influence on the composition of nat'l
govts, though it acts as a barometer of public opinion.
* Transport, Environment
While taxing, spending, social security, policing and defence are the
province of nat'l govts, the EU parliament holds sway over business,
transport, labour and environmental regulations, can oust the European
Commission and helps determine how the bloc spends its 100 bn euros
[$US120 bn] in regional, farming and development aid.
In all, 348 mn Europeans were eligible to vote for 40,670 candidates
from 183 parties running for 732 seats. Nat'l representation ranges
from Germany with 99 seats, followed by France, Italy and Brit with 78
each, on down to Luxembourg, Estonia and Cyprus with 6 each and Malta
with 5. The new parliament's term starts July 20.
Turnout fell to a record low of 44.2%, estimates by the parliament
showed. Voter participation peaked at 63% in 1979, when the assembly
was 1st democratically elected, and has fallen in every election
since. Fewer than 30% of eligible voters in the 10 new EU countries
went to the polls.
Flagging turnout gave a boost to protest parties such as the UK
Independence Party, which wants to pull Brit out of the EU. The party
won 15%, BBC projections showed.
* 'Backlash'
In France, Chirac's allies won 37.4%, lagging the Socialist-led opp'n
with 41.6%, according to partial returns. In Italy, Berlusconi's Forza
Italia got 22.3%, behind the opp'n's 30.8%, with 5% of the vote counted.
Berlusconi also suffered losses in local elections. Exit polls
indicated Forza Italia lost control of the regional govt of the island
of Sardinia. Renato Soru, founder Tiscali SpA, Europe's third-largest
Internet provider, was running for the centre-left coalition and
clinched between 48% and 52% of the vote, Nexus said. The Forza Italia
candidate won between 38.5% and 42.5%.
"Voters are extremely tired of empty promises to revive the economy,"
said Hans-Juergen Hoffmann, managing director of Psephos GmbH, a
Hamburg-based market research company.
* Stifling Discontent
European unemployment is almost twice the US level and economic growth
is set to lag the US for the 11th time in 12 years. With half of the
12 countries using the euro overshooting the EU's budget-deficit
limits, govts are unable to boost spending and voters are balking at
belt-tightening measures that would be needed to get deficits down.
"Politicians will now be preoccupied with stifling discontent with the
election results within their parties and fighting back challengers to
the current leaderships," said Laszlo Kishonti, who helps manage the
equivalent of $663 mn in mostly Hungarian stocks and bonds at
Budapest-based K&H Investment Fund, a unit of Belgium's KBC Bancassurance
Holding NV. "Govts will be more inclined take populist measures rather
than the difficult steps to carry on with economic reforms."
2 govts that took power this y bucked the trend. In Spain, where the
Socialists won nat'l elections in March, PM Jose Luis Rodriguez
Zapatero's Socialists, who pulled the country's troops out of Iraq
after taking office, won 43.4% of the vote. In Greece, allies of PM
Costas Karamanlis, who took power in March, likely won 43.4%, beating
the opp'n Socialists.
* Polish Opp'n
Poland's ruling Democratic Left Alliance and Labor Union came in
fifth, with 11% of the vote, according to a poll by private television
station TVN. Poland's largest opp'n party, the Citizens' Platform, won
28%, ahead of the anti-EU Polish Families League with 16%.
Voting for the EU parliament for the 1st time "should make us feel
happy and proud," Mariusz Cielecki, a 54-yo math teacher, said at a
Warsaw polling station.
"Unfortunately, there is a strong feeling of disappointment with local
and European politics as well."
With ruling parties on both sides of the political spectrum faring
poorly, the balance of power in the parliament didn't change. Europe's
Conservatives, a loose grouping that includes allies of France's
Chirac and Italy's Berlusconi, probably won 269 seats, or 36.7% of the
total 732, compared with 37.4% in the outgoing parliament, according
to projections by the assembly.
* 'Sending Message'
The Socialists, including allies of the UK's Blair and Germany's
Schroeder, remained the second-strongest force, with 199 seats or
27.2%, compared with 29.4% before.
There were 788 seats in the outgoing parliament.
"People are once again using the European election to send a message
to their own govt," Martin Schulz, the German Social Democrats' top
candidate for the EU parliament, told German television.
The Conservatives, led by Germany's Hans-Gert Poettering, had hoped
for a victory to cement their claim to the post of president of the
European Commission, a job that will be awarded by EU govt leaders
next wk.
Unaffiliated candidates who largely oppose handing more powers to the
EU won 77, up from 44 in the old parliament. The result is "quite a
large bloc of refuseniks, anti-Europeans," said Graham Watson, the
Liberals' leader. "The pressure will be on the major mainstream
parties to work together to deal with these."
* Constitution Risk
The euro-skeptic upsurge also raises the risk that the EU's new
constitution won't be ratified. Brit, Denmark, Ireland and Belgium
plan to hold referendums, and several others are contemplating
one. Voters in any one country could veto the constitution, which EU
leaders aim to endorse next wk.
Topping the list of voter concerns were the jobless rate and the
threat of terrorist attacks, 2 issues over which the parliament has
little influence. Some 51% named unemployment as their main
preoccupation, with 32% citing terrorism and 29% economic growth,
according to a poll by TNS Sofres/EOS Gallup Europe of 12,267 eligible
voters between May 17 and June 1.
* Cigarettes to GMOs
In the last 5-y term, the parliament shaped everyday Europeans' lives
by ordering that cigarette packs be smothered with warnings such as
"smoking can cause a slow and painful death," mandating compensation
as high as 600 euros for bumped airline passengers, enacting labelling
requirements for gene- altered foods and forcing banks to reduce fees
for cross-border euro transfers and withdrawals from money machines.
In dictating an estimated 60% of the legislation that finds its way to
nat'l statute books, the EU parliamentarians often put country over
party. German Social and Christian Democrats united in 2001 to veto a
takeover code that they feared would make companies such as Volkswagen
AG, Europe's biggest carmaker, prey to hostile foreign bidders, and
Brit's delegation last y watered down proposed curbs on investment
banks' stock trading.
EU voters send no-confidence message in low poll
Brussels (Reuters). Europe's voters have delivered a massive vote of
no confidence in their govts in European Parliament elections, both by
hammering ruling parties and by staying away in record numbers. The
biggest transnat'l election in history, staged just 6 wk after the
European Union expanded from 15 to 25 states with 450 mn citizens,
highlighted public indifference toward remote EU institutions.
In mid-term protest votes, electors punished Brit PM Tony Blair for
his role in the US-led Iraq war, and the governing parties in France,
Germany and Poland for economic stagnation, high unemployment and
painful social reforms.
Only the recently elected Spanish and Greek govts escaped the voters'
wrath, amplifying their nat'l victories. A mere 44.2% of nearly 350 mn
eligible voters bothered to cast ballots in the 4-day exercise, the
lowest turnout since direct elections for the Strasbourg-based
assembly began in 1979.
In an irony of history, voter participation was even weaker in the 10
new, mainly ex-communist E European member states, where it averaged
just 26%, apparently due to voter fatigue after referendums last y on
joining the EU.
"Today's results, up to now, appear to be the worst," outgoing
parliament president Pat Cox said, lamenting the narrow domestic focus
of the debate. "Europe has been too absent in too many campaigns."
In Brit and Poland, hard-line Euroskeptics made stunning gains, sending
strident new voices of hostility to European integration to sit in the
increasingly powerful EU legislature.
The UK Independence Party, which won its 1st 3 seats in 1999, was on
course to grab 15 this time, while Poland's populist League of
Catholic Families beat the ruling Socialists into 4th place.
* BALANCE UNCHANGED
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats crashed to
their worst result since World War II while French Pres Jacques
Chirac's centre-right UMP party suffered its 2nd electoral defeat in 3 m.
Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party also lost ground,
although it suffered a milder anti-war backlash than other US allies
in Brit, Denmark or Portugal.
The overall balance in parliament, which has growing powers over EU
spending, financial regulation, food safety and environmental rules,
was little changed.
The centre-right European People's Party was set to remain the biggest
group with 274 of the 732 seats, the Socialists were 2nd with 199, the
Liberals 3rd with 67 and the Greens 4th with 42.
It was not immediately clear what alliance would be formed to run
parliament.
Politicians said the Socialists and an augmented Liberal group that
may be boosted by defectors from the centre-right EPP were exploring a
possible deal, although a return to the traditional power-sharing
between EPP and Socialists which prevailed until 1999 was also possible.
Liberal leader Graham Watson said his faction could be in the position
of "kingmakers."
As final results trickle in on Mon, attention will shift to last-ditch
negotiations on a proposed EU constitution, due to be concluded at a
summit in Brussels on Thu and Fri, and to the search for a new
European Commission president.
EU president Ireland circulated new proposals ahead of a meeting of
foreign ministers in Luxembourg, aimed at assuaging key Brit and Dutch
objections to the removal of nat'l vetoes in the draft constitution.
But the Irish offered no text on the core disputes over member states'
voting powers and the future size of the European Commission, which
remain to be settled at the summit.
2 possible contenders for the EU executive's top job -- Belgian PM Guy
Verhofstadt and Luxembourg PM Jean-Claude Juncker -- had mixed
fortunes at the polls.
Verhofstadt's Flemish Liberals were pushed into 3rd place by the
far-right anti-immigrant Vlaams Blok in regional polls in Flanders,
but he vowed his Fed Govt would soldier on.
Juncker, a Christian Democrat and the EU's longest-serving head of
govt, was easily re-elected in the 450,000-strong Grand Duchy but has
insisted he does not want the Brussels job despite widespread support
among fellow EU leaders.
European voters lash governing parties
Many Europeans, including these women from Hungary, are voting in
their 1st EU election.
Brussels. Europe's voters have delivered their govts a massive vote
of no confidence in European Parliament elections by hammering ruling
parties and staying away in record numbers.
The biggest transnat'l election in history was staged just six weeks
after the European Union expanded from 15 to 25 states, encompassing
450 mn citizens.
The election has highlighted public indifference towards remote EU
institutions.
In mid-term protest votes, electors punished Brit PM Tony Blair for
his role in the US-led Iraq war and the governing parties in France,
Germany and Poland for economic stagnation, high unemployment and
painful social reforms.
Only the recently elected Spanish and Greek govts escaped the voters'
wrath, amplifying their nat'l victories.
A mere 44.2% of nearly 350 mn eligible voters bothered to cast ballots
in the 4-day exercise, the lowest turnout since direct elections for
the Strasbourg-based assembly began in 1979.
Voter participation was even weaker in the 10 new, mainly ex-communist
east European member states, where it averaged just 26%.
That low figure has been put down to voter fatigue after referendums
last y on joining the EU.
"Today's results, up to now, appear to be the worst," outgoing parliament
president Pat Cox said, lamenting the narrow domestic focus of the debate.
"Europe has been too absent in too many campaigns."
In Brit and Poland, hard-line Euro-sceptics made stunning gains,
sending strident new voices of hostility to European integration to
sit in the increasingly powerful EU legislature.
The UK Independence Party, which won its 1st 3 seats in 1999, was on
course to grab 15 this time, while Poland's populist League of
Catholic Families beat the ruling Socialists into 4th place.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats crashed to
their worst result since World War II while French Pres Jacques
Chirac's centre-right UMP party suffered its 2nd electoral defeat in 3 m.
Italian Prime Min Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party also lost
ground, although it suffered a milder anti-war backlash than other US
allies in Brit, Denmark or Portugal.
The overall balance in Parliament, which has growing powers over EU
spending, financial regulation, food safety and environmental rules,
was little changed.
The centre-right European People's Party was set to remain the biggest
group with 274 of the 732 seats.
The Socialists were 2nd with 199, the Liberals 3rd with 67 and the
Greens 4th with 42.
It was not immediately clear what alliance would be formed to run
Parliament.
Politicians said the Socialists and an augmented Liberal group that
may be boosted by defectors from the centre-right EPP were exploring a
possible deal.
A return to the traditional power-sharing between EPP and Socialists
which prevailed until 1999 is also possible.
Liberal leader Graham Watson said his faction could be in the position
of "king-makers".
Iraq's Al-Sadr to form political party
Najaff (RFE/Reuters). Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is
planning to establish a political party that could participate in
democratic elections next y. Qais al-Khazali, a rep for radical
cleric, made the announcement today in the Iraqi holy city of
Al-Najaff. US officials want al-Sadr to face justice in connection
with the murder of a rival cleric last y -- a charge al-Sadr denies.
Al-Sadr's Imam Al-Mahdi Army launched an armed uprising against US-led
forces in Iraq in Apr.
US election hostilities resume
Washington (AFP). The US presidential election battle is to reopen on
Tue, after a week-long ceasefire during mourning for ex-president
Ronald Reagan.
Democratic contender John Kerry is to give a major speech on the
economy in NJ state, hoping the campaign hiatus will not hurt his lead
over Pres George W Bush in the polls.
The Massachusetts senator held a seven-point lead over Bush in a LA
Times poll published on Thu. Kerry led Bush 51 to 44%.
But a poll released by Time magazine showed how fragmented US public
opinion was ahead of the Nov 2 election. The magazine found among
Americans who considered themselves "very religious" 59% supported
Bush while 35% favoured Kerry.
Those who described themselves as "not religious" favoured Kerry by
69% to 22%.
US Catholics split down the middle, with 45% supporting Kerry, a
Catholic and former altar boy, and 43% favouring Bush, a teetotal
born-again Methodist.
Asked if a president should be guided by his faith in policymaking,
70% of Republicans said yes while 63% of Democrats said no.
Bush already has benefited from Reagan's death, which dislodged from
the headlines a steady drumbeat of bad news about Iraq, following the
prisoner abuse scandal and the spiralling cost in dollars and lives of
the US-led military occupation.
But there are still doubts as to whether the president would get a
boost in the polls after the death of the man he has claimed as his
ideological role model, or whether he would lose favour among voters
viewing him as a pale imitation of Reagan.
Bush, who seemed to take the view that any association with the 40th
US president would be beneficial, made his case again during his
weekly radio address.
"Ronald Reagan always told us that for America, our best was yet to
come," he said one day after Reagan's state funeral in Washington
where he also delivered remarks.
For his part, Kerry, who delivered the Democratic radio address,
swiped Bush's opp'n to stem cell research, which Reagan's widow,
Nancy, said may have saved the late president from Alzheimer's.
"Today, more than 100 mn Americans have illnesses that one day could
be cured or treated with stem cell therapy," Kerry said.
Services to honour Reagan put Kerry's campaign on hold and kept him
out of the public eye, which pundits say is a considerable setback for
a presidential challenger in a hard-fought election.
Reagan's death also hurt the Kerry campaign's bank account: the
Massachusetts senator was forced to reschedule 2 star-studded
fundraising concerts, with performances planned by pop singers Neil
Diamond, Willie Nelson and Barbra Streisand.
26 former US officials oppose Bush
Washington (AP). Angered by Bush Admin policies they contend endanger
nat'l security, 26 retired US diplomats and military officers are
urging Americans to vote Pres Bush out of office in Nov.
The group, which calls itself Diplomats and Military Cmdrs for Change,
does not explicitly endorse Democrat John Kerry for president in its
campaign, which will start officially Wed at a Washington news conference.
The Bush-Cheney campaign said Sun it would have no response until the
group formally issues its statement at the news conference.
Among the group are 20 ambassadors, appointed by both Democratic and
Republican presidents, other former State Dept officials and military
leaders whose careers span 3 decades.
Prominent members include retired Marine Gen Joseph P Hoar, cmdr of
US forces in the Middle E during the Admin of Bush's father; retired
Adm William J Crowe Jr, ambassador to Brit under Pres Clinton and
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Pres Reagan; and Jack
F Matlock Jr, a member of the Nat'l Sec Council under Reagan and
ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987 to 1991.
"We agreed that we had just lost confidence in the ability of the Bush
Admin to advocate for American interests or to provide the kind of
leadership that we think is essential," said William C Harrop, the
1st Pres Bush's ambassador to Israel, and earlier to 4 African countries.
"The group does not endorse Kerry, although it more or less goes
without saying in the statement," Harrop said Sun in a telephone interview.
Harrop said he listed himself as an independent for y for career
purposes but usually has voted Republican.
The former ambassador said diplomats and military officials normally
avoid making political statements, especially in an election year.
"Some of us are not that comfortable with it, but we just feel very
strongly that the country needs new leadership," Harrop said.
He said the group was disillusioned by Bush's handling of the war in
Iraq and a list of other subjects, including the Middle East,
environmental conservation, AIDS policy, ethnic and religious conflict
and weapons proliferation.
Al-Jazeera airs American's execution
Doha (AFP). Qatar's Al-Jazeera television station has aired video
footage of what it says is the murder of US nat'l Robert Jacob in the
Saudi capital, Riyadh, by suspected Al Qaeda killers.
The body of a man in W dress is seen hitting the ground as several
gunshots ring out.
The feet and legs of 2 men in civilian dress are also shown -- they
are apparently the assassins.
The scene is in the covered yard of a residential building where a 4wd
vehicle is parked in a garage space.
The footage was posted on a web site and attributed to an Al Qaeda
terror cell, which has claimed responsibility for the killing.
The video describes the victim as "American Jew Robert Jacob, who
worked for the spy group Vinnell".
Mr Jacob, 44, worked for the US Vinnell Corp, which helps train the
Saudi Nat'l Guard.
He was shot dead at his home in Riyadh on June 8.
A US nat'l has been killed in a drive-by shooting and another American
believed to have been kidnapped yesterday amid a bloody campaign by Al
Qaeda to driver W "infidels" out of the kingdom.
"Jihadists" free Turk, Egyptian hostages
Baghdad (Reuters). A Turk and an Egyptian hostage have been in Iraq,
a mediator says. The mediator, who requests not to be identified,
says the men have been released after talks with people close to their
captors yesterday. He has given no details. A group calling itself
'The Jihadist Groups' released a statement on Thu warning that the 2
hostages would be killed yesterday. The group said they would be
executed because they were of no value to their Govts, unlike the
hostages of W countries. The Dubai-based Al Arabiya television has
aired footage of an Iraqi group threatening to kill the Egyptian and
Turkish hostages if their countries did not condemn the US-led
occupation in Iraq. Dozens of foreigners have been taken hostage by
Iraqi armed groups who are battling the US-led presence in Iraq. Some
hostages have been released but others have been killed.
Turkish, Egyptian hostages freed in Iraq, mediator says
Baghdad (Reuters). 2 foreign hostages, a Turk and an Egyptian, were freed
in Iraq on Sun, a mediator said, but they have made no public appearance.
The mediator, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters the men
were released after talks with people close to their captors on
Sat. He gave no details.
But there was no sign that the hostages had appeared in public or
called their embassies.
A Turkish embassy official in Baghdad said he could not confirm that a
Turkish nat'l had been released.
"We have no info on a release. We cannot confirm this right now," he
told Reuters.
The mediator said that people close to the kidnappers reiterated late
on Sun that the Egyptian and Turk had been released.
A group calling itself The Jihadist Groups had released a statement on
Thu warning that the 2 hostages would be killed on Sat because they
were of no value to their govts unlike the hostages of W countries.
The Dubai-based Al Arabiya television aired footage on Wed of an Iraqi
group threatening to kill the Egyptian and Turkish hostages if their
countries did not condemn the US-led occupation in Iraq.
Dozens of foreigners have been taken hostage by Iraqi armed groups who
are battling the US-led presence in Iraq. Some hostages have been
released but others have been killed.
We almost caught bin Laden: Karzai
Washington (AFP). US and Afghan forces had been close to catching
Osama bin Laden in recent months, Afghanistan's Pres Hamid Karzai said.
Karzai gave no details, but he said the fugitive al-Qaeda leader was
still probably somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistan border.
"He may be one day on this side, one day on that side when they hide
somewhere. It's a large territory. He is a fugitive. He's hiding and
we are looking for him," Karzai told CNN television.
"I have not seen any such evidence to suggest definitely that we are
getting closer to arresting Osama bin Laden. But we have gotten close
to arresting him a number of times."
Karzai said that in recent m "we do definitely know that a number of
times we were close to capturing him, and it somehow didn't happen".
"We will definitely catch him one day. No fugitive can run
forever. Nowhere in the world. He will be caught one way or the other."
The Afghan leader said there were no indications that bin Laden, whose
group carried out the Sep 11, 2001 attacks on the US, was with Taliban
leader Mullah Omar.
Powell praises Saudi anti-terrorism efforts
Washington (AFP). US Secretary of State Colin Powell is praising
Saudi Arabia's efforts to stem an upsurge of violence against
foreigners, following the presumed kidnapping of a US aeronautics
engineer.
The kidnapping follows the killing of another American by suspected Al
Qaeda extremists.
"The Saudis understand that there is a serious problem, and they're
mobilising all of their resources, "Mr Powell said.
"The Saudis know that this is an enemy that is coming after them.
"The killing of foreigners, whether they're Americans or Brits or what
are they, is a direct attack against the Saudi regime."
Mr Powell says he is "satisfied with what they have done so far" in
response to a series of attacks on Westerners in the kingdom.
"They have a very serious problem within the kingdom. They know that
it's going to require all their resources," Mr Powell said.
"The Saudis know they have a battle on their hands, and we're going to
support them."
"I am satisfied with what they have done so far. I think there is more
that they can do.
"There's probably more we can do with respect to intel exchanges."
Mr Powell's remarks come one day after a US citizen was reported
missing in Saudi Arabia by his family, and another American there was
fatally shot.
"I don't have any additional info with respect to who is responsible
for the killing of the 1st American and the location of the American
who has been kidnapped," the top US diplomat said.
"It's trying to disrupt normal commerce, disrupt the oil sector.
"And the Saudis are going to go after it with all the resources at
their disposal, and we're going to help them as much as we can."
Pakistan arrests key Al Qaeda suspect
Karachi (ABC, Geoff Thompson). Pakistani authorities say they have
arrested a group of Al Qaeda fighters behind a series of deadly
attacks in Karachi over the past few weeks. 13 men have been
arrested, 8 of them yesterday. Their leader is said to be an Uzbek
nat'l accused of spear-heading the bombing and shooting attack on a top
Pakistani military cmdr last Thu. But the prize catch was Musabir
Umrichi, an alleged Al Qaeda operative with a $US1 mn reward on
his head. Pakistani authorities say he is the nephew of Khalid Sheikh
Mohammad, alleged to be one of the planners of the Sep 11 attacks.
Officials say all the captured men had trained in S Waziristan near
Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, where a new offensive by the
Pakistani military has claimed 60 lives in the past 3 days.
Brit allows diplomatic staff to leave Saudi Arabia
London. The Brit Foreign Office is allowing non-essential diplomatic
staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia in response to further
attacks against Westerners over the weekend.
The encouragement for Brit diplomatic staff to leave Saudi Arabia
comes as the Foreign Office reiterates its travel advice urging
Britons to avoid all but essential trips to the country.
It warns terrorists are planning further attacks against Westerners
and places associated with W interests.
It is not ordering junior diplomats to leave the country but is
authorising the voluntary departure of non-essential staff and their
dependents.
The FO announcement brings the mission into line with its general
travel advice which urges Britons to avoid all but essential trips to
the country.
It says anyone who chooses to stay should take necessary steps to
protect their safety.
The deteriorating security situation has also prompted Brit Airways to
protect staff travelling to Saudi Arabia.
Flight crews needing to rest overnight will not be allowed to stay in
the capital but will be dropped off in Kuwait instead.
AUS's Dept of Foreign Affairs says it is reviewing its travel advisory
to Saudi Arabia.
In the meantime, the current advice warns Aussies to defer
non-essential travel to the country and for Aussies working in Saudi
Arabia to consider leaving.
The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has expressed his concerns
about the deteriorating security situation in Saudi Arabia.
"It's not unravelling but it's certainly a dangerous situation right
now," he said.
"Terrorists are going after the Saudi leadership, they're trying to
make the country unstable and I know that the Saudis are treating it
with utmost seriousness and they're counter-attacking.
"They've done some rolling up of these terrorist organisations but
clearly this is a dangerous time for Saudi Arabia and we're working
with them, we're cooperating with them in every way that we can to
defeat these terrorists."
High cancer rates worry submarine veterans
Canberra. Aussie submariners are calling for the Fed Govt to conduct
an urgent survey of health of all submarine veterans. The Aussie
Submarine Association is worried there is an unusually high number of
veterans contracting cancer. The health and welfare co-ordinator,
Kevin Hayton, says he knows of at least 25 documented cases out of the
association's 800 members. Mr Hayton believes it is the result of too
many y working close to diesel. "Anyone been nr a submarine, you just
eat, breathe and live diesel from a time you're on a submarine to a
time when you're off," he said. "Just ask the wives -- all the
clothes that stink. "You'd always get a seat on a train after you've
come off it because you just stink of diesel, it oozes out of you for weeks."
Iraq Pres won't destroy Abu Ghraib prison
Washington (Reuters). Interim Iraqi Pres Ghazi Yawar on Sun said he
had no plans to destroy the Abu Ghraib prison despite an offer by Pres
Bush to tear down the jail where US troops abused inmates.
Asked if he would tear down the prison, Yawar told ABC's "This Week,"
"No. Why? It's a prison that we spent more than $100 mn building."
He acknowledged the prison was a symbol of the repressive regime of
former Iraqi Pres Saddam Hussein, but said it would be unwise and
reactionary to destroy all such symbols, given the high cost of
rebuilding Iraq.
"We need every single dollar we have in order to rebuild our country
instead of demolishing and rebuilding," he said.
Bush last m said the Abu Ghraib prison nr Baghdad would be torn down,
if the Iraqi govt approved, and the US would fund the construction of
a modern, maximum security prison.
Photographs and videotapes of American soldiers sexually and
physically abusing and humiliating Iraqi inmates at the prison have
seriously undermined US efforts in Iraq.
The Pentagon last wk said it would widen a probe into the abuse of
Iraqi prisoners to include actions of the top US cmdr in Iraq, and Def
Sec Donald Rumsfeld requested that autopsies be conducted when
detainees die.
Yawar said the new Iraqi govt would assume control over the Abu Ghraib
prison when the US hands over power on June 30. "We have to start
taking care of all our entities," he said.
Coalition to hold 5,000 prisoners after sovereignty
Baghdad (AFP). The US-led coalition plans to hold on to between 4,000
and 5,000 people after Iraq receives sovereignty on June 30 and to
free or hand over to the Iraqi authorities 1,400 prisoners.
Lt Col Barry Johnson, a rep for detention operations in Iraq, says
there are currently around 6,400 detainees.
"At this time, we estimate there will be approximately 4,000-5,000
detainees after June 30, keeping in mind that anti-coalition
activities occur every day, resulting in further detentions," he said.
He says about 200 prisoners held at Camp Bucca, a detention camp
located by the S port of Umm Qasr, will be transferred to the Iraqi
authorities.
The coalition will also shut down one of its 3 main nationwide prison
centres, Camp Cropper, which is located at the Baghdad airport.
"Currently, there are 3 theatre-level detention facilities in Iraq:
Camp Redemption at Abu Ghraib, Camp Bucca nr Umm Qasr, and Camp
Cropper," Lt Col Johnson said.
"The plan is to have only 2 theatre-level facilities after June 30,
Camp Redemption and Camp Bucca."
The bulk of the 44 most-wanted members of Saddam Hussein's regime
captured by the coalition are being held at Camp Cropper, a
humanitarian group says on condition of anonymity.
The moves come as the US-led coalition looks to overhaul its detention
facilities ahead of Iraqi sovereignty.
The US-run detention system has been tarnished by allegations of
physical and sexual abuse of detainees, notably in Abu Ghraib.
Coalition officials have acknowledged issues of over-crowding and that
Iraqis no longer considered a threat have languished behind bars for ms.
Bin Laden bodyguard held at Guantanamo: report
Washington (AFP). US military officials are holding a bodyguard of Al
Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at the naval base prison in Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, the Washington Post reports.
The report cites Defence Dept memos and sources familiar with base
captives.
The Post says the bodyguard is Moroccan Abdallah Tabarak, who enabled
bin Laden to escape from the battle of Tora Bora in Afghanistan in
late 2001 by making calls on his leader's personal satellite telephone.
The info is contained in memos documenting meetings between military
personnel and inspectors from the Internat'l Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC).
ICRC officials, who keep their prison reports confidential, have not
been allowed to interview Tabarak as recently as Feb.
According to the memos, the ICRC officials express concern that US
interrogators are keeping detainees in isolation holds for up to a
month for refusing to give info.
They are concerned that lengthy interrogation sessions are having a
"cumulative effect" on the mental health of the captives.
The ICRC also says the use of open-air cages instead of closed cells
constitutes inhumane treatment under the internat'l laws of war.
The memos say the meetings were cordial, even though an Oct 9, 2003
memo states that "there was no improvement in any of the 4 major areas
of concern".
The Post says documents show the new arrivals thought they were going
to be executed because they were clothed in reddish full-body
jumpsuits, a colour reserved for condemned men in the Arab world.
Brightly coloured jumpsuits are commonly used by prisoners in US
custody to make them easily identifiable, especially if they escape.
Charges have been presented to only a handful of the roughly 600
detainees from 42 countries being held in Guantanamo, including Aussie
David Hicks.
Most have been captured in Afghanistan as part of the US "war on
terror" following the Sep 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
The US has classified the prisoners as "illegal combatants" rather
than as prisoners of war, drawing worldwide criticism from govts and
human rights groups.
Sadr City clashes kill 5
Baghdad (Reuters). 5 Iraqis have been killed during clashes with US
forces in a Shiite slum district of Baghdad, officials of rebel cleric
Moqtada al-Sadr's group say.
"3 of the dead were civilians, 2 were members of the Mehdi Army," one
official said.
One of the dead is Karim Daraan, a Mehdi Army field cmdr in the
sprawling Sadr City slum, which is home to over 1 mn Shiite Muslims.
Hundreds of Iraqis have waved assault rifles and rocket-propelled
grenade launchers in the air during Daraan's funeral, vowing loyalty
to Sadr.
"Moqtada, Moqtada," the mourners chanted as Daraan's coffin, draped in
the old Iraqi flag, wound its way through the streets atop a van.
Sadr has agreed a truce with US troops in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.
But gunfights with US forces often break out in Sadr City, the young
cleric's main power base in Baghdad.
Iraqi professor assassinated
Baghadd (AFP). An Iraqi geography professor, Sabri al-Bayati, has
been shot dead moments after leaving a Baghdad university campus.
Sabaj Shukur, whose shop stands directly across from Baghdad
University's College of Literature, saw the attack. "It was 12.15
pm. I heard 3 shots and I saw a man collapse on the street," he said.
The killing follows the assassinations in Baghdad of 2 snr Iraqi
officials in 24 hr. Kamal Jarrah, director of cultural relations at
Iraq's Education Ministry, has been gunned down in front of his home
today. Yesterday Deputy Foreign Min Bassam Kubba was shot dead as he
left for work.
Sadr plans political party
Najaff (AFP). Shiite firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr, whose militia has
battled the US-led coalition since Apr, plans on forming a political
party to contest Iraq's Jan nat'l elections.
A top lieutenant to the radical preacher, Qais al-Khazaali, says
Sadr's supporters are discussing it.
"We are planning on founding a party to express the views of the
people because they have placed their confidence in us," Khazaali said.
"If we found this party, it will participate in elections and it will
be built on our popular base."
But Khazaali says the Sadr movement and his Mehdi Army will continue
to exist.
It is not clear how an anti-militia law adopted last wk by the new
Iraqi caretaker Govt would affect Sadr and his 1000s-strong Mehdi Army.
Iraq's new Prime Min, Iyad Allawi, calls the Mehdi Army an illegal
militia but has also indicated he is open to dialogue with Sadr.
The anti-militia law technically bans any militia member from politics
for 3 years, but Khazaali says his boss has no interest in politics.
"Sayyid Moqtada Sadr has repeatedly said that he does not want any
political post," Khazaali said.
"This does not mean he will not support people seeking political office."
Khazaali stresses Sadr's movement is truly interested in joining the
nat'l political arena for the country's 1st free and fair elections
since the country's monarchy was overthrown in 1958.
"We will participate if the elections are free and honest," he said.
"They must be supervised by an honest party."
12 die in suicide bombing as violence rocks Iraq
Baghdad (Scotsman/PA). A suicide car-bomber killed a dozen people
today nr a US garrison in Baghdad and gunmen assassinated a snr
Education Ministry official in a day that also included a rocket
attack on the Green Zone and ambushes around the capital. A US
helicopter crashed but the crew survived.
2 other top Iraqi officials narrowly escaped death in what appears to
be a campaign to target key figures in the new Iraqi Admin as it
prepares to take power on June 30.
Elsewhere, an American soldier was killed and 2 others were wounded
during an ambush nr Taji 20 km N of Baghdad, the US command said. One
assailant was also killed.
A US Army OH-58 helicopter crashed nr Taji, but the two-member crew
survived "in good condition," the US command said. The command said
there was no indication the aircraft crashed due to hostile fire, but
the incident is under investigation.
At least 10 people, including 3 Shiite militiaman, died in overnight
clashes with US troops in Baghdad's Sadr City neighbourhood, Sheik
Hassan al-Edhari, an aide to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said.
The suicide attack nr the US Army's Camp Cuervo in eastern Baghdad was
the 15th car-bombing in Iraq since the start of the month, US
officials said. The 12 dead included 4 policemen, officials said, but
there were no American casualties.
13 Iraqis were injured in the blast, which occurred about 9:15 am
after police flagged down a vehicle travelling on the wrong side of
the road. The driver detonated the explosives as police approached.
Kamal al-Jarah, 63, the Education Ministry official in charge of
contacts with foreign govts and the UN, was fatally shot outside his
home in the city's Ghazaliya district, a predominantly Sunni Muslim
neighbourhood where support for Saddam Hussein had been strong.
Al-Jarah's death occurred one day after Iraq's deputy foreign
minister, Bassam Salih Kubba, was mortally wounded in another Sunni
neighbourhood while driving to work. The Foreign Ministry blamed
Saddam loyalists for the killing.
"These assassinations are an attempt to stop the march of Iraq toward
complete sovereignty," Industry Min Hakim al-Hasni told Al-Arabiya
television. "They are not a resistance because they are resisting
their own people. They are killing the highly qualified people. What
kind of a resistance is this?"
Rather than going after top govt figures who are well protected, the
insurgents appear to be targeting middle and upper level officials who
lack adequate security.
Under-scoring those difficulties, a rocket exploded in the Green Zone,
causing minor damage to the Republican Palace where US administrator
L Paul Bremer maintains his offices.
There were no reports of casualties, but US Apache attack helicopters
roamed the skies overhead looking for the assailants.
In addition to the assassinations -- the 1st against top govt
officials since the new leadership was appointed June 1 -- 2 other snr
figures escaped death in separate attacks over the weekend.
The chief of Iraq's border police, Maj Gen Hussein Mustafa
Abdul-Kareem, was slightly wounded in a shooting in Baghdad.
Police Maj Gen Majeed Almani Mahal was hospitalised with wounds
received in an ambush in Baqouba, 65 km NE of Baghdad, officials said.
Iraq to bring back visas
Baghdad (Herald Sun). Iraq is to impose visa restrictions on
foreigners entering the country as part of a campaign to bolster
internal security after it regains sovereignty at the end of this m.
Interior minister Falah Hassan al-Naqib today said foreigners would be
admitted on 15-day tourist visas that could be extended to one month.
Long-term foreign residents could obtain permits to stay for up to 5
years, and there would be special visas for diplomats and official
delegations. Mr Al-Naqib did not mention any special category for
foreign journalists and contract workers employed by the Iraqi govt or
the multinat'l military force. Nor did he say whether any nat'lities
would be exempt from the visa requirement. Iraq maintained a strict
visa policy during the rule of Saddam Hussein. After he was ousted,
most nat'lities could enter the country indefinitely after presenting
a passport at the border. However, Iraqis have complained strongly
that the relaxation has led to an influx of foreign fighters,
criminals and intel agents whose presence threatens internal security.
Transport company returns from Iraq
Fort Benning, GA (AP). Friends and family cheered and applauded 69
soldiers from the 13th Core Support Battalion Sat as they returned
home from Iraq. The battalion hauls ammunition supplies and heavy
equipment. Members are expected to be redeployed this winter, said Col
Jim Brooks, group cmdr of the 36th Engineer Group, which oversees the
battalion. The platoon from the battalion's 233rd Heavy Equipment
Transport Company that returned home Sat was deployed for about 6
months, Brooks said. The transport company hauled tanks and armoured
vehicles from ports in Kuwait to Baghdad and other locations. The
company was ambushed at least one time after an improvised explosive
device detonated but suffered no casualties, Brooks said. The
battalion's 608th Ordnance Company, whose members also returned home
Sat, was deployed in Iraq for more than a year, he said.
Labor denies withdrawal would "humiliate" AUS
Mr Rudd says the Aussie people will decide.
Canberra. The Fed Govt says withdrawing Aussie troops from Iraq by
Christmas would be humiliating, but the ALP refuses to be swayed by
the criticism.
The situation in Iraq is likely dominate political debate this wk,
with Parliament resuming tomorrow for its final session before the
winter break.
If PM John Howard decides to call an Aug election, that session would
be this Parliament's last.
The Govt is seeking to highlight recent criticism of that the Opp'n's
withdrawal policy from snr US officials.
Pres George W Bush has described it as dangerous, while the Deputy
Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, says withdrawal is almost unthinkable.
Foreign Min Alexander Downer says withdrawal would be a "very
humiliating policy for AUS to pursue".
"I think the image of AUS cutting and running is an extremely damaging
image for this country internat'ly," Mr Downer said.
But Labor's Kevin Rudd says the Opp'n will not be swayed.
"The Aussie people will make up their minds on these questions," he said.
Instead, Labor is directing attention to a statement the Defence Min
Robert Hill will make to the Senate this wk.
Mr Hill will explain how much Aussies knew about the alleged serious
abuse of prisoners in Iraq and when that info was passed on.
US pushes Europe to get tougher on Iran nuke plans
Vienna (Reuters). Washington is pressuring France, Germany and Brit to
toughen their draft resolution rebuking Iran for lax cooperation with
the UN nuclear watchdog, whose board will vote on the text this wk,
diplomats said.
The Board of Governors of the Internat'l Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
begins meeting on Mon. On their agenda is the agency's investigation
of Iran's nuclear program and the draft resolution.
Washington says Tehran's nuclear power program is a front to make
atomic weapons, but Iran denies this, insisting its ambitions are
limited to the peaceful generation of electricity.
"The Americans want a deadline," a diplomat from one of the 35 nations
on the IAEA board told Reuters. "A deadline would be to keep the
pressure on Iran."
Another diplomat said a deadline could be used to force Iran to
finally keep some of the promises it made to the Europeans in Oct
2003, when Tehran agreed to suspend uranium enrichment activities in
exchange for peaceful atomic technology.
Washington would also like a "trigger mechanism" that would call for
the board to report Iran to the UN Sec Council for possible sanctions
if its cooperation remains sluggish.
In Sep 2003, the IAEA passed a resolution setting an Oct 31 deadline
for Iran to submit a complete declaration of its nuclear program.
Tehran submitted the declaration on time, though it was later shown to
be incomplete.
Last week, the European trio circulated a toughly worded draft
resolution that "deplores" Iran's failure to fully cooperate with the
IAEA and urged Tehran to urgently "resolve all outstanding questions."
The text, to be voted on by the IAEA board this wk, also "deeply
regrets that Iran has not fully implemented [the enrichment
suspension]...including by taking steps to produce UF6, and by
continuing to produce centrifuge components."
UF6 is uranium hexafluouride, the form of uranium that is fed into gas
centrifuges, machines that purify it for use as fuel in power plants
or weapons. Iran insists that producing UF6 is not part of the
suspension deal, but the Europeans disagree.
Iranian negotiators are pushing the Europeans to remove the word
"deplores" and generally soften the text, which already has the
support of most of the 35 board members, diplomats said.
* DEADLINE TO STOP ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES
Valerie Lincy, an analyst at the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms
Control, a US-based think-tank, said a deadline would make the
European draft even stronger.
"The resolution could set out a specific definition of what such
activity includes and set a deadline, before which Iran must truly
suspend all such activities," Lincy told Reuters.
She said the draft could go further in demanding Iran halt operations
at a uranium conversion plant, which makes UF6, and scrap plans to
build a heavy water research reactor experts say would yield little
electricity but ample bomb-grade plutonium.
The IAEA is most concerned with 2 outstanding issues -- the scale of
Iran's advanced P-2 centrifuge program and traces of enriched uranium
the IAEA found in Tehran, which diplomats said could mean Iran was
secretly enriching uranium for weapons.
Iranian For Min Kamal Kharrazi said on Sat he hoped the IAEA board
would not only resist US pressure to toughen the draft resolution but
would drop Iran's case from the board's agenda.
"It is not fair that Iran's case remains on the agenda for 2 minor
issues," he said.
Al-Aqsa claims Israeli troops target leader
Jenin (AFP). Israeli troops have tried to kill a top leader of the
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the W Bank town of Jenin, the radical
Palestinian organisation says.
Witnesses and Palestinian security sources say that around 30 Israeli
jeeps and tanks have entered the town and surrounded the home of
Zakaria Zubeidi.
He is one of the most wanted of all Palestinian militant leaders.
Lengthy exchanges of fire have been heard around Mr Zubeidi's home in
the town's refugee camp and one of his assistants has been wounded in
the hand.
"The Israelis tried to assassinate our leader in Jenin but he has
escaped," the Brigades said in a statement.
"We will continue our operations and we will respond to this attack
with many attacks on the army and the settlers."
Mr Zubeidi is blamed by Israel for a string of deadly attacks.
The Al-Aqsa Brigades is a radical and largely autonomous offshoot of
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, whose birthplace
and stronghold is in Jenin.
An army rep says that troops have been involved in an exchange of fire
in the area but that they had been taking part in a "routine patrol."
Settlers bid to thwart pullout plan
Gaza (AFP). The Jewish settlers of Gaza are mapping out a strategy to
thwart the uprooting of their homes, as Israeli PM Ariel Sharon vows
his withdrawal plan would be completed within 18 m.
A wk after Cabinet ministers approved his disengagement plan, Mr
Sharon says he has ordered the committees tasked with its
implementation to begin work "without delay".
"So that we can meet the deadline for each stage of the withdrawal by
the end of 2005," he said.
Mr Sharon's cabinet voted 14 to 7 on June 6 in favour of his plan,
which will see all 7,500 settlers in the Gaza Strip cleared from the
Palestinian territory.
The plan also calls for the closure of 4 isolated settlements in the N
W Bank.
In turn, Mr Sharon wants to strengthen Israeli control over other
large settlements in the W Bank.
Settlers are likely to receive an average $US300,000 per family if
they leave voluntarily by the end of next summer, after which time
troops will be sent in to clear out those who have stayed put.
Many are determined to cling on to their homes.
They are to hold a meeting in the Gaza settlement of Neve Dekalim to
map out their plan of attack.
"We are not going to allow ourselves to be destroyed," a rep for the
settlers, Eran Sternberg, said.
"We will knock on every door throughout Israel to plead our case. We
are not despairing and we are keeping our faith."
Mr Sharon has received pledges of support from both UN Sec Gen Kofi
Annan and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in recent days to
ensure the smooth implementation of the plan.
Burma arrests 2 Suu Kyi party members
Rangoon (AFP). Burma's military regime has arrested 2 members of
opp'n leader Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party for alleged links
to underground organisations.
An opp'n source says Ma Than Htay and Tin Win have been detained by
the junta's security forces for alleged contact with illegal groups.
The pair, who were detained on June 5, are awaiting charges.
"We are trying to get legal representation for them but still don't
know where they are being held," the Nat'l League for Democracy (NLD)
source said.
It is still not clear which outlawed groups the pair are alleged to
have had contact with.
Burma's ruling junta released 9 members of Aung San Suu Kyi's party
last Fri after they were arrested for protests marking the anniversary
of her detention a y ago.
The nine, all from the NLD's youth wing, had faced potential lengthy
jail sentences for handing out copies of the UN human rights
declaration at several locations on May 30.
Flood-menaced population to double by 2050, UN says
UN (Reuters). The number of people vulnerable to floods is expected to
double to 2 bn worldwide by 2050 due to global warming, deforestation,
rising sea levels and population growth in flood-prone areas, UN
researchers warned on Sun.
1 bn people, roughly a 6th of the world's population, now live in the
potential path of a worst-case flood, and most of these are among the
planet's poorest, UN University experts reported.
The Tokyo-based university issued the warning as it prepared to open
an institute in Bonn, Germany, to study the impact of the environment
on human security. The institute's goal is to help govts better cope
with natural disasters.
The world will be warmer and wetter by mid-century, and the N part of
the N Hemisphere will likely see more storms, said Dr Janos Bogardi,
founding director of the new institute, in the study made public by
the university.
Sea levels could rise, fed by melting glaciers and ice caps, and
extreme high-water levels could become more common, menacing small
islands and coastal lowlands, he said.
Floods already kill as many as 25,000 people a y and -- along with
other weather-related disasters -- cost the world economy up to $60 bn
a year, much of it in developing nations ill-equipped to cope with
such huge costs, the experts said.
"Most urgently needed to adapt to the growing risk of flood disasters
is greater global capacity to monitor and forecast extreme events,"
Bogardi said. "Armed with better info, superior early warning systems
and infrastructure can be installed and new planning strategies
devised," he said.
The UN University was established by the 191-nation General Assembly
in 1973 to foster an internat'l community of scientists looking into
global problems.
Worldwide inequality spreading: UN
UN (AP). Despite efforts to decrease poverty around the globe,
citizens of many developing countries haven't seen their lives get any
better since the 1960s or are worse off than they were before, UN
Sec-Gen Kofi Annan said.
"The sad truth is that the world today is a much more unequal place
than it was 40 y ago," Annan said on the eve of the 11th UN Conference
on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Annan said many developing countries have made progress raising life
expectancy and lowering child mortality since UNCTAD was founded in 1964.
But he added: "Our challenge today is to consolidate those gains,
while at the same time addressing the needs of those countries that
have yet to advance or have even regressed."
UNCTAD's forum in Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, opens Mon for
representatives of 180 countries aiming to use trade to foster
development and eradicate poverty. Annan spoke at a meeting of the
Group of 77 (G77) developing countries, also founded in 1964, held in
advance of the forum.
Too many developing countries rely on commodities exports for their
foreign currency earnings, leaving them vulnerable to volatile market
swings, Annan said.
"Developing countries also suffer from a lack of access to markets of
developed countries, and from other imbalances and injustices that
have led you to raise questions about the basic fairness of the global
trade regime," Annan told G77 delegates.
"All of this underscores the need for internat'l development
cooperation to be based on a true partnership between the developed
and developing world," he added.
"Both groups of countries have responsibilities, and both should be
held accountable."
US foreign policy condemned
Washington (AFP). Former US diplomats and military leaders have
written a letter strongly condemning Pres George W Bush's foreign
policy, arguing he has damaged US nat'l security and urging Americans
to vote against him, according to newspaper reports.
The letter -- an unusually strident public critique signed by 26
former military and foreign service officials -- says Bush's policies
have proved ineffective and left the US isolated internat'ly,
according to the LA Times and The Washington Post.
The signatories include officials appointed by presidents of both
parties who have served on every continent, including nations such as
Israel, the Soviet Union and Saudi Arabia.
"We just felt things were so serious, that America's leadership role
in the world has been attenuated to such a terrible degree by both the
style and the substance of the Admin's approach," William C Harrop,
ambassador to Israel under Bush's father, told the LA Times.
"A lot of people felt the work they had done over their lifetime in
trying to build a situation in which the US was respected and could
lead the rest of the world was now undermined by this Admin -- by the
arrogance, by the refusal to listen to others, the scorn for
multilateral organisations," Harrop said.
"It is clear that the statement calls for the defeat of the Admin,"
Harrop said.
The group, calling itself Diplomats and Military Cmdrs for Change,
plans to release the letter on Wed in Washington.
The public criticism comes amid rising public skepticism about Bush's
handling of the war in Iraq, and less than 5 m before the presidential
election.
Bush campaign officials declined to comment on the letter before its
release.
One top strategist from Bush's Republican party said he did not think
the letter would cause much political fallout.
"Their timing is a little off, particularly in the aftermath of the
most recent UN resolution," the strategist told the paper, referring
to last week's unanimous UN security council vote endorsing the
hand-over of power in Iraq.
Bush also came under attack last m from former diplomats, who faulted
his endorsement of Israeli PM Ariel Sharon's controversial plan to
withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
That group of 58 former US ambassadors and diplomats said Bush had
cost the US "credibility, prestige and friends" and "placed US
diplomats, civilians and military doing their jobs overseas in an
untenable and even dangerous position".
Aussies unearth ancient Egyptian cemeteries
Cairo (AFP). An Aussie archaeological team operating in Egypt has
unearthed 2 5,000-yo cemeteries outside the capital. Culture Min
Faruq Hosni says the cemeteries have been discovered in the Helwan
district, 15 km S of Cairo. The cemeteries date from the 1st and 2nd
dynasties. The Sec-Gen of Egypt's Supreme Council for Antiquities,
Zahi Hawas, says the graveyards contain bodies from opposite ends of
the social spectrum. The 1st consists of shallow graves, while the
2nd comprises more elaborate structures as much as 5.5 metres below
the surface, with grave goods including an early written tablet.
Thousands welcome freed Kurdish activists
Diyarbakir, Turkey (AFP). Thousands of supporters have turned out to
greet former Kurdish legislator Leyla Zana, an unschooled teenage
mother turned activist and cause celebre, as she and 3 fellow
detainees returned home after a decade in Turkish jails.
Supporters have flooded the streets of Diyarbakir, the main city in
the Kurdish-majority SE, waving banners in the red, yellow and green
colours of the Kurdish movement.
Ms Zana, 43, arrived on the open back of a bus, flanked by the 3 other
former Kurdish members of the Turkish parliament.
The 4 were released last wk Turkey's appeals court in a surprise twist
in one of the country's most politically charged cases.
Ms Zana, Hatip Dicle, Selim Sadak and Orhan Dogan were jailed in 1994
on charges of collaborating with separatist Kurdish rebels.
They are to remain free pending the outcome of their appeal against
the convictions, which were confirmed in a retrial in Apr.
Their release has been welcomed by the European Union, which along
with human rights groups sees the 4 as prisoners of conscience.
It has kept close track of the case for signs that Turkey is indeed
implementing political reforms aimed at boosting its bid for EU membership.
Racial tension sparks Congo war threat
Kinshasa (AFP). Gen Laurent Nkunda, a leader of dissident troops
in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, is threatening the Govt with
war unless it sets up a commission to deal with alleged crimes against
his ethnic group.
"If no commission of enquiry is created, we'll go back to Bukavu and
we'll be at war with the govt," Gen Nkunda said.
"We will wait until tomorrow [Mon local time]."
Gen Nkunda is one of 2 officers whose soldiers took the eastern town
of Bukavu between June 2 and 9 in fighting that claimed about 90 lives.
At the time said he was doing so to protect his ethnic group.
The Gen is a Banyamulenge, a Congolese Tutsi, who also formerly served
as an officer in the Rwandan army.
He says he wants word from Azarias Ruberwa, a rebel leader turned one
of the DRC's 4 VPs.
"Unfortunately, they're still burning the houses of Banyamulenge in
Bukavu," the Gen alleged.
The Kinshasa Govt has accused Rwanda of being behind the seizure of
Bukavu, the capital of Sund-Kivu province.
The capture is seen as a threat to the UN-monitored peace process,
which has begun in DRC after 5 y of war.
"I'm waiting for Ruberwa to give me last word, otherwise I start
mobilising again and there will be a fight with Kinshasa," Gen Nkunda said.
Bukavu lies hard by the frontier with Rwanda, which gave Mr Ruberwa's
Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) backing during the DRC war.
That conflict has been estimated to have cost up to 2.5 mn lives,
directly or indirectly through famine and disease.
DRC regular Govt troops marched into Bukavu to the applause of large
numbers of the local population after the renegades left.
However, the US-based Human Rights Watch says both sides have
committed serious rights violations against civilians.
Olympic torch paraded through Rio
Rio (ABC, Clinton Porteous). The Olympic torch has arrived in S
America for the 1st time ever. It has being paraded through Rio de
Janeiro in Brazil. Soccer legend Pele was the 1st person to carry the
Olympic flame on its initial visit to S America. He paraded it around
the world's largest soccer stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Modern-day
player Rinaldo is scheduled to take the flame on stage at an outdoor
music festival. South America has never hosted the Olympic Games.
Rio last m missed out on the shortlist for the 2012 Games. It was the
city's 3rd rejection. Rio's consolation prize appears to be the
Olympic torch on its way to Athens. The flame will next stop in
Mexico City.
Gregan, Jones among honours recipients
Honoured: Alan Jones is among 719 Aussies on the list.
Sydney. Broadcaster Alan Jones and Wallabies captain George Gregan
are among more than 700 Aussies from all walks of life recognised in
today's Queen's Birthday Honours list.
The list includes politicians, entertainers, sports people, High Court
judges and those who serve the community through their charitable work.
7 Aussies were awarded the Companion of the Order of AUS, including
former politician Sir James Killen.
Sir James spent 28 y in fed Parliament under 7 prime ministers. He
says accepting the honour is a very humbling experience.
"I thank the 1000s of people who have helped me over the y -- many of
them have passed on to another world," Sir James said. "I say a prayer
of thanks to them."
The deputy director of the Qld Institute of Medical Research, Prof
Adele Green, also received the Companion of the Order of AUS.
She is honoured for her research into skin and ovarian cancer and her
commitment to improving Indigenous health.
"For science and medical research to be getting a guernsey like this,
I'm very proud and delighted," she said.
The other Aussies honoured with Companion of the Order of AUS awards were:
* High Court judge John Dyson Heydon for his service to the law
* Qld Treasury Corp chairman Sir Leo Arthur Hielscher for his service
to economic growth and development.
* Prof Peter Morris at Oxford in Brit for his work in vascular surgery
and renal transplants
* Historian and social commentator Hugh Stretton for "profoundly
influencing and shaping ideas in the community on urban policy, town
planning, and social and economic development"
* The Hon Justice John Winneke in MEL for his "leadership in the law"
* Arnold, Reid, Fraser
Other former politicians honoured include Lynn Arnold, who was the
premier of S AUS, and the former president of the Senate, Margaret Reid.
Tammy Fraser, the wife of former PM Malcolm Fraser, has been
recognised for her charitable work.
Sporting heroes like Wallabies captain George Gregan are honoured, as
is radio broadcaster Alan Jones and entertainer Judi Connelli.
Playwright and actor Nick Enright, who died last year, is also
recognised for his services to art. Enright wrote the book Boy from Oz.
His brother, Ian, believes the award celebrates his life and work.
"He was extraordinarily humble and self-effacing about it," he said.
AUS's chief diplomat in Baghdad, head of mission Neil Mules, says he
is honoured to receive an Order of AUS for his work in Iraq.
He says he hopes to see Iraq become a safer place after the hand over
of power at the end of this m.
"We're likely to see a sustained level of attacks, maybe an increase
in the period leading up to that," he told Channel Nine.
"But I'm pretty confident once Iraqis see and realise that their
country is in their own hands that Iraqis themselves make sure that
the situation stabilises."
A total of 719 Aussies are honoured today. Nearly 20,000 Aussies have
been recognised with an Order of AUS since 1975.
No more dunes for me, says Simpson conqueror
Birdsville, Qld. A part-time adventurer from SA has walked into the
history books, becoming the 1st person to complete a solo crossing of
the Madigan Line in the Simpson Desert. Rob Porcar, 44, arrived at
Birdsville in SW Qld on the weekend after a gruelling 17-day trek
retracing the steps of Cecil Madigan in 1939. He says he climbed more
than 700 sand dunes along the 520-km route. "There were so many times
during the 1st couple of wk where I thought ... I'm just not going to
be able to do this," he said. "Hauling ... the cart with 100 kilos of
gear on it over dunes was just the most horrific thing I've ever done.
"On my GPS [global positioning system] the tallest one was 48 metres,
it was just horrendous. "Honestly, I've never seen anything like it
and I certainly don't want to see another dune again, put it that
way." In 1939, Madigan organised and completed an expedition by camel
across the N part of the Simpson Desert, from Andado Station to
Birdsville and then S to Lake Eyre and Marree.
"Big Brother" evictee stages silent refugee protest
A reality TV show star has staged a silent protest against detention
centres.
Brisbane. The latest housemate evicted from Channel 10's Big Brother
house has made a silent protest about AUS's mandatory detention of
asylum seekers. A 24-yo member of the show, named only as Merlin,
emerged from the house with black masking tape over his mouth and
carrying a sign saying 'Free th Refugees' (apparently the 'e' fell
off). The show's host, Gretel Killeen, said Merlin's protest was
entirely valid but that she regarded his behaviour as "a little
aggressive". She encouraged him to remove the tape and speak to the
live audience gathered at Dreamworld on Qld's Gold Coast for the live
eviction, saying he had made his point. But Merlin remained silent,
to a mixed reaction from the crowd. Killeen soon crossed back to the
remaining housemates and then to an ad break. When the show returned,
Merlin was off stage and Killeen explained that he had continued to
refuse to speak.
Trials test new Crohn's disease treatment
Melbourne. 2 new clinical trials have begun to develop new treatments
for the 1000s of Aussies suffering from Crohn's disease and ulcerative
colitis. The trials' launch coincide with an Aussie Crohn's and
Colitis Association awareness week. Association chairman Prof Peter
Gibson says there are 50,000 sufferers in the country. "The problem
is that only 6 out of 10 people with inflammatory bowel disease
respond adequately to our current therapy," he said. "So that what we
then are left with is 4 out of 10 people who are not getting adequate
relief. "Many of these people will need to have surgery."
WA Opp'n wants Justice Min stood down
Perth. The W Aussie Opp'n plans to step up its attack on Justice Min
Michelle Roberts when Parliament resumes tomorrow. 3 of the 9
prisoners who escaped from the Perth Supreme Court last wk remain at
large. The Opp'n says Mrs Roberts failed to do her job properly and
should be stood down in light of a series of breakouts over the last
few months. Opp'n leader Colin Barnett says he is interested in
seeing whether Prem Geoff Gallop defends Mrs Roberts after his push
for better ministerial accountability and standards. "Michelle
Roberts and Dr Gallop have sought to blame everyone they can think
of," he said. "Previous govts, the security company, even the judges
themselves have been blamed by this Min. "I don't see it that way. At
the end of the day there is one person responsible and that is the Min."
Gallop refuses to play escape "blame game"
Dr Gallop is standing by his Justice Min, Michelle Roberts.
Perth. WA Prem Geoff Gallop has not endorsed criticisms made by one
of his snr ministers in the wake of last wk's Supreme Court breakout.
The Prem says the Govt is not interested in playing a blame game.
Justice Min Michelle Roberts and the Govt have been intensely
criticised after 9 prisoners escaped from the Supreme Court last wk.
3 remain on the run.
Dr Gallop has refused to criticise Mrs Roberts' handling of the breakout.
"We're not into the blame game," he said.
Dr Gallop says he has confidence in his Min and will not ask her to resign.
"Do you want the Min not to analyse the problem?" he said.
"The public want the ministers looking into the issue -- why did it
happen and what can we do about it."
Over the past few days Mrs Roberts has criticised her dept and the
judiciary.
She says while the judiciary is not wholly to blame for the escape,
its refusal to support the widespread use of handcuffs, shackles and
video-hook ups has compromised security.
"I think it is a nonsense in this day and age to be transferring
people for 8 or 9 hearings that could take under 10 minutes each to
the Supreme Court from prison, when those kind of hearings could be
done by video link," she said.
The Criminal Lawyers Association's John Prior says while video link
hearings have their place, they are often a sub-standard way of
dealing with court matters.
He also says those hearings will not resolve security issues.
"The security in some of the courts in this state, compare it to other
states, is just somewhat lacking," he said.
ALP, Democrats to oppose electoral law changes
Canberra. The Labor Party and the Democrats have said they will
oppose controversial changes to AUS's electoral laws to be debated in
Parliament this wk. Under the proposals, the Govt wants to close the
electoral rolls the day the writs are issued but Labor says that would
leave up to 300,000 people without a vote on polling day. The Govt
would also ban prisoners in Aussie jails from voting and has accused
Labor of being soft on crime. But Senate Opp'n leader John Faulkner
says supporting the ban would leave AUS in breach of its internat'l
obligations. "What about our obligations under the United Nations'
universal declaration of human rights re-signed by the Howard Govt
recently?" he asked. "I mean, this is the difficult balancing act
that the Parliament has to try and achieve." The Govt denies the
legislation contravenes internat'l treaties.
Crop-dusters may self-regulate safety
The crop-dusting industry could soon be responsible for its own safety.
Canberra. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) wants farm
aviators to assume control of safety rules so the authority can invest
more resources into general airline safety.
The proposal would see the aerial agriculture industry peak body carry
out safety surveillance and administer pilot licences.
CASA rep Peter Gibson says the extra resources would be used help keep
Aussie travellers safe.
"[The] Civil Aviation Safety Authority is looking for ways to spend
more time and resources on the safety of the travelling public,
airlines and charter flights," he said.
"One way of doing that is to step back out of aerial agriculture and
allow them to administer their own air safety."
Meanwhile, aviator Dick Smith says he is determined to wind back what
he describes as AUS's over-regulated aviation system.
Mr Smith is a rep for the Nat'l Airspace System Implementation Group.
Pilots have expressed concern that the new system, which allows light
aircraft to share airspace with commercial planes, could jeopardise safety.
Mr Smith says the regulations are unnecessary and costly and should be
remodelled in way similar to the US.
"About every 2 or 3 y I bring a little bit more [US regulation] in and
then it gets reversed," he said.
"But they never reverse it all, and so when I'm about 120, I'm now 60,
I'll have the US airspace system in here and we'll be able to get
aviation thriving again."
Drug syndicates "making own ingredients"
Sydney. NSW police are concerned about an emerging trend among
illegal drug syndicates, who are avoiding detection by making their
own ingredients.
The concern follows a raid on a drug laboratory on the state's
mid-north coast, which police are describing as one of the largest
they have encountered:
Police say drug squad detectives found the clandestine laboratory
during the raid early yesterday on a property at Nabiac, nr Taree.
They seized 1.5 kg of pure methamphetamine, or speed, worth an
estimated $2.5 mn.
Detective Inspector Paul Willingham says the 450 kgs of illegal drug
ingredients also recovered, highlight a recent disturbing pattern.
"The actual ingredients that are normally purchased are, this particular
syndicate were making themselves to avoid being detected," he said.
2 men in their 50s living on site have been charged with manufacturing
a commercial quantity of the drug.
A woman, also in her 50s, has been charged with being knowingly
involved with the manufacture.
All 3 have been refused bail, and are due to appear in the Port
Macquarie Local Court tomorrow.
Corruption claims hit peak crime-fighting body
Canberra. Allegations of corrupt behaviour inside AUS's elite
crime-fighting body, the Aussie Crime Commission (ACC), have led to
calls for a body to oversee its integrity.
ABC TV's 4 Corners program tonight reveals serious ongoing concern
that the nat'l force is being compromised by tainted officers
recruited from state police forces.
The program raises fears that one ACC officer from Vic may have
extended his criminal network to drug syndicates in Cambodia and has
engaged in drug rip-offs with a former NSW officer who is also facing
corruption allegations.
Using secret surveillance audio tapes and footage, 4 Corners reporter
Chris Masters examines the officers' links with underworld figures and
another New S Wales detective to shake down drug dealers.
Former Qld Criminal Justice Commission director Mark Le Grand says
corruption is not contained by state boundaries.
"Police corruption results from policing," he told 4 Corners. "It's
neither state-based nor fed-based.
"It's a result of the temptations and risks of policing so I think
it's a nonsense to talk about it being a state phenomenon and not a
fed phenomenon."
The snr counsel assisting the W Aussie Royal Commission into police
corruption, Peter Hastings, agrees there is evidence of corrupt cops
working together across borders.
"There seemed to be an empathy between them," he said. "Why is
difficult to fathom.
"It may be simply because they were all similar to the profile of
corrupt officers that I've seen in the past, who seem to be invariably
brash and arrogant."
However, the Fed Govt denies the ACC has been infected by corruption.
Fed Justice Min Chris Ellison says the ACC has put in place enhanced
sceening measures and denies the system has failed because of
corruption allegations against 2 officers.
"I don't accept that it has been shown that there is corruption in the
Aussie Crime Commission," he said.
"What has been demonstrated is that they've been secondees to the Aussie
Crime Commission and they've been the subject of corruption allegations."
Stand-off continues at MEL service station
A stand-off between a 36-yo man and police at Craigieburn, in MEL's
north, has entered its 15th hour.
Melbourne. Police say the W Meadows man smashed a car window before
entering the Shell service station armed with 2 firearms at about 9.30
pm AEST yesterday. There were 3 people inside, 2 left shortly after
the stand-off began. The 3rd person was there for about 2 hr but left
of her own will. Superintendent Doug O'Loughlin says the man did not
threaten the people in the store. "The male that is currently in
there is threatening self harm and harm to police if they come into
the shop," he said. Up to 15 homes have been evacuated. Cragieburn
resident Daniel Vine lives opposite the service station and was told
to leave early this morning. "There was police and everything in
place with guns drawn and all that," he said. Police are urging
locals to stay clear of Craigieburn Road and Hampton Road.
Antarctic filming lands Croc Hunter in hot water
Canberra. The Fed Govt says Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin's film crew
knew they were not allowed to approach wildlife in the Antarctic.
The fed Environment Dept and the Aussie Antarctic Division is
investigating Irwin over allegations he toboganned with penguins and
swam with whales.
The claims have been made by Aussies in the US who saw television
promotions for a documentary due to go to air next week.
The parliamentary secretary to the Environment Min, Sharman Stone,
says an investigation is underway and Irwin could be fined if he is
found to have breached Antarctic regulations.
"They were briefed on what was required under our Aussie Antarctic
Division conditions and that included a recognition that the film
crews would be properly briefed and the distances they could approach,
what they could do," she said.
"We do hope that this is just very clever filming -- that an
impression has been given in the film that is not any real reflection
of what actually happened.
"If what people are suggesting in this promotion is the case, maybe
the penguins came up to Steve," she added.
"He's great with animals as we know but if there's any indication that
in fact people approached the penguins and got too close to them, we'd
be very concerned about that."
But Irwin has defended his actions, describing the controversy as a
"storm in a tea cup".
He says the Fed Govt has seen the documentary and given him the okay.
"We were just bobbing around in the ocean and the whales came up and
swam around me, so I don't think that's banned at all -- as far as I
know," he told Channel Nine. "I'm well within my legal limits to do that."
Irwin says the attack on his latest documentary has been motivated by
his enemies.
"My enemies are huge," he said. "I've got the biggest enemies in the world.
"If you want to be a wildlife warrior and you want to take the fight
for the whale to the masses, then by crikey, I appreciate the
environmental people investigating me."
The Environment Dept has requested a copy of the footage.
Irwin also sparked controversy in Jan when he fed a crocodile at his
AUS Zoo while holding his baby son, Bob.
{{
Midnight.
Brit is pulling out non-essential personnel from Saudi Arabia, after
the latest shooting there. The Brit Amb in Riyadhj said he was
giving staff the option of leaving the Kingdom, but the "requirement
for non-diplomatic staff was more stringent". Brit Airways has stopped
its crews staying overnight in Saudi because of security fears.
Kenya has been urged to declare a state of emergency after a
contaminated maize scare. 80 people have died after eating maize
contaminated with a fungus associated with the storage of moist grain [ergot?].
1000s have turned out to welcome home a Kurdish human rights activist
in her home town.
There are reports a Baghdad Uni professor has been assassinated.
8 am
Pak authorities have arrested 13 alleged al-Qaeda terrorists -- 8
of them today -- in connection with bomb attacks in Karachi. 2 of
those arrested are snr al-Qaeda men -- one of them with a $US1 mn
reward on his head.
The preliminary results are out for the EP elections. Most govts seem
to have seen a backlash except for Spain and Greece. The Spanish
socialists have consolidated their grip on the EP. The elections
have seen low over turn outs in both the "old" and "new" EU members.
Poland saw less than 15% of voters cast a ballot. The German ruling
party saw a 9 pt slump -- winning only 20% of the vote. The opp'n
alliance won almost twice that. In France, the Socialists have crushed
the ruling conservatives, taking 30% of vote. Pres Chirac is not expected
to dismiss his PM as a result. In Italy, Berlusconi's C-R party won
just 20% in its worst result since the party's creation in 1994. In
Brit the Independence Party won 12 seats, capitalising on the UK's
Euro-skeptic views. The Tories have won 26 seats, and Labour only
17. Brit saw a record low EP turnout.
100s of Aussies have been honoured on the Queens Birthday list. The
awards have recognised a slew of sportsmen, politicians, medicos and
charity workers. About 20,000 Aussies have now been awarded AO's .
10 am
Proposed changes to Aussie electoral laws are set to be blocked in the
senate. The Howard govt wanted to close the electoral rolls as soon as
electoral writs were issued for an election -- a move that could block
the votes of up to 300,000 Aussies. Electoral officials say up to
370,000 changes are made to the electoral roll immediately after an
election is declared, as voters get their enrolments up-to-date. The
proposed laws would also prevent prisoners from voting.
After England lost 2 1 to France in the football, 400 people in
Croydon were involved in an after-loss melee. They threw stones and
broken bottles at police. 2 officers were taken to hospital. 14
people were arrested. You'd think England would be used to losing by now.
Midday.
3 Qld-ers have been recognised with the highest award, the Companion
of the Order of AUS, in this y's Queen's Birthday honours list.
A large number of ACT residents and public servants have been named in
this year's Queen's Birthday honours list.
Al Qaeda militants in Saudi Arabia claim to have killed one American
and kidnapped another to avenge the US mistreatment of Muslim
prisoners in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.
Dozens of W Aussies are among more than 700 people recognised in this
year's Queen's Birthday Honours.
More than 100 Vicns are among the people recognised in today's Queen's
Birthday honours list.
More than 70 SAs have been honoured in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.
Qatar's Al-Jazeera television station has aired video footage of what
it says is the murder of US nat'l Robert Jacob in the Saudi capital,
Riyadh, by suspected Al Qaeda killers.
The annual Queen's Birthday awards have honoured 13 Northern
Territorians and have included 3 public service awards and 3 to
serving military officers.
Police and an armed man are continuing a standoff in MEL's N. The
man walked into a Shell service stn about 9 pm last night. The
stand-off is in its 15th hr. The man is threatening self harm or harm
to police if they enter the stn. He briefly held hostages, but
allowed them to leave around 11 pm last night.
The AUD is travelling around 68.83 US c. Aussie markets are closed
for the Queen's B'day. In Japan, the Nikkei is up 70 pts. Gold is
trading around $US383.25/oz.
3 pm
A car bomb has exploded during peak hr in the centre of Baghdad.
Police fired guns to keep people away after the blast. Brown smoke
is rising from the scene of the blast. The US military says it has no
immediate info.
The Fed Opp'n says it may block the FTA with the US because it will
see an added expense to the PBS. An extra cost of $700 mn pa would
come from copyright considerations. The FTA will also slow the entry
of generic drugs into AUS. Mark Latham said today a final decision
about the ALP's support for the FTA would be made after a Senate
enquiry hands down its report.
The Nikkei is down 11. In HK, the Hang Seng is up 65 pts. The AUD is
at 68.85 US c. Local gold is trading around $US383.00/oz.
3.30 pm
The car bomb in Baghdad has knocked down the facade of a building in
the market area. Police say the bomb went off as 2 Western-style
4wd's went by. There are unconfirmed reports of many cas. The blast
occurred in a crowded shopping district during peak hr, just across the
bridge from the US HQ.
8.30 pm
EU govt's are still trying to assess the fallout from the EP
elections, and the record low turnout.
7 people have been killed in the car bombing in Baghdad.
Pak authorities say they've arrested a gang of militants. It said to
be a major breakthrough in their attempt to crush al-Qaeda activities.
IAEA chief ElBaradei says Iran's cooperation is "less than
satisfactory" with the UN nuclear watchdog. The central question
remains, says ElBaradei, whether Iran has declared all its enrichment
activities.
UN conf in Brazil. Rich countries have been put under pressure to
cut ag subsidies and open markets.
The Brit govt is re-opening the case of 5,000 servicemen who say they
fell ill after their participation in GWI.
9 pm
The bomb blast in C Baghdad has killed a number of Westerners, as well
as Iraqis. The Iraqi PM says 5 foreign civilians were killed and 3
others injured.
Some observers have noted radio broadcaster Allen Jone's Queen's
Birthday gong. It was awarded for his tireless charity work on behalf
of non-profit organisations, says the citation. And for his tireless
work promoting Optus, Telstra and Qantas on the radio, say media wits.
9.30 pm
SBS TV. 13 people [BBC later said 11] have been killed and 50 injured
in the latest Baghdad attack. 5 of the dead were foreigners. An 8
story building was "destroyed" by the explosion and 8 vehicles
destroyed. 40 people have been killed in a series of attacks this wk.
The latest bombing came just hrs after another car bomb killed 12
Iraqis in the capital. 4 police were burned alive in their vehicles
in that attack.
1 US soldier has been killed 2 in a bomb attack on a convoy in Iraq.
1 insurgent was also killed in the exchange.
The Iraqi Int Min says local security forces will be able to combat
insurgents. Elsewhere, the Iraqi Pres -- doing the rounds on US TV --
has blamed the US military for "leaving the borders open" after the
invasion.
Israeli TV is saying the A-G has decided to close the case against
Ariel Sharon over a bogus real estate deal. It quotes the A-G saying
he believes there is no reasonable chance of the prosecution
succeeding, through lack of evidence. But observers are saying the PM
may yet face related fraud charges.
}}
========================================
(*) 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!
Special deals for multiple posting aliases!
All speling macroizated for correctitood by Mcrosotf Speelchek.
*** Please stand by for further orders from The Leader ***