AM News Story Roundup

Arabs Seek New Mideast Peace Initiative
Arab Nations Want U.N. to Help Launch New Mideast Peace Initiative
By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS - Arab nations want the U.N. Security Council to help launch a new peace process to end the broader Arab-Israeli conflict, saying the "road map" unveiled in 2003 to establish a Palestinian state is dead.


Iraqi group uses Michael Moore film to mock Bush
By Alister Bull


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi militant group has produced an elaborate video of what it said were attacks on U.S. troops, in the latest example of the increasingly sophisticated propaganda war being waged by Iraqi insurgents....Lifting scenes from Michael Moore's anti-war film "Fahrenheit 9/11", Rashedeen's narrator taunts U.S. President George W. Bush in softly spoken English over graphic images of Humvees being blown up by roadside bombs, and purportedly dead U.S. troops.

Olmert faces post-war disappointment
By James Reynolds
BBC News in Jerusalem

Israel's post-war post-mortem is being performed in public. There seems to be a simple rule right now: if you have any kind of official title in this country, the chances are that you didn't come out of this conflict all that well. That certainly applies for the Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose first-ever turn as a wartime leader has not worked out as well as he had hoped.


Pakistan tells US military that al-Qaida mastermind of London terror plot in Afghanistan
Ynet

Pakistan has told the US Military that an Arab al-Qaeda operative who masterminded the London terror plots is hiding in mountainous terrain in northeastern Afghanistan, an intelligence official said


Israel downplayed Hezbollah's arsenal
By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press WriterThu Aug 17, 7:11 AM ET

Israel's defense minister, his credentials already in question before the just-ended war in Lebanon, says the military downplayed the extent of the Hezbollah guerrilla group's missile threat when he took office, according to a newspaper report Thursday.


Israel Complains Hezbollah Used Russian-Made Missiles
Friday , August 18, 2006

JERUSALEM — Israel has complained to Russia that Russian-made anti-tank missiles have reached Hezbollah guerrillas who used them against Israeli troops in south Lebanon, government officials said Friday.


Iraqi security forces detain 77
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer

Gunmen attacked a convoy of civilian trucks Friday, killing one guard, and a cache of arms was seized in a Baghdad mosque, officials said. Security forces detained 77 people across Iraq in a crackdown on sectarian and political extremists.


The first Photoshop war

Lebanon war's doctored photos could be harbinger of photojournalism crisis
Gal Mor


Olmert, Peres: Yesha Withdrawal - Not For Now
Friday, August 18, 2006 / 24 Av 5766

PM Olmert told Kadima party colleagues this week he realizes that his unilateral withdrawal plan is irrelevant for now. Shimon Peres, in U.S., says the Lebanese war has lowered the plan's chances.


Cracks In UN Plan Expose Israel
Friday, August 18, 2006 / 24 Av 5766

Offers by anti-Israel countries to patrol Lebanon, Hizbullah's welcoming of Lebanese troops and the abandonment of vows to disarm the terrorist group leave Hizbullah stronger and Israel weaker.

German Bomb Investigation

BERLIN (Reuters) - An investigation launched after two bombs were found in the German cities of Dortmund and Koblenz late last month is increasingly pointing to a terrorist link, a German newspaper reported on Thursday. The daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung quoted unidentified "high-level security experts" as saying there was a "strong probability" that the bombs, hidden in luggage found on trains at the cities' stations, were part of a terrorist plot.


Concern Grows For Fate of Fox News Journalists
14:15 Aug 18, '06 / 24 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) The Committee to Protect Journalists voiced concern Friday for the safety of two Fox News Channel journalists kidnapped in Gaza three days ago, appealing to their kidnappers to release them. No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction of the journalists from the U.S. television network, and the kidnappers have made no demands.


Israel's U.N. Envoy: UNIFIL Countries Must Recognize Israel
17:11 Aug 18, '06 / 24 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Countries that send troops to be a part of the United Nations international force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) must recognize the Jewish state, Israel's United Nations Ambassador Danny Gillerman told the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) Friday.


Al Qaeda Letter Threatens to Blow Up Taj Mahal
Friday , August 18, 2006

LUCKNOW, India — Police in northern India have heightened security around the Taj Mahal after receiving a letter threatening to blow up the monument, officials said Friday.


Kurds flee homes as Iran shells Iraq's northern frontier

Turkey and Iran have dispatched tanks, artillery and thousands of troops to their frontiers with Iraq during the past few weeks in what appears to be a coordinated effort to disrupt the activities of Kurdish rebel bases. Scores of Kurds have fled their homes in the northern frontier region after four days of shelling by the Iranian army. Local officials said Turkey had also fired a number of shells into Iraqi territory.