Standing on the Rubicon

Political News from Israel

2006-09-04T13:28:00.000-07:00

Israeli political news stories

Home Front/Knesset News
El-Sana: Olmert is a Prime Minister in Crisis
Beilin Rules Out an Emergency Government
MK Naveh Says Olmert´s Remarks Prove Need for Inquiry on War
Labor: Activists petition for elections
Labor MKs Warn Budget May Break Up Coalition
Meretz, Labor MKs Push Petition Calling on Katzav To Quit
'New High Court President To Keep Lower Profile Than Barak'
Labor Begins Addressing the Day After
MK Sarsur: PM threatens Syria, playing with fire
PM: We will not limit ourselves against Syria like we did in Lebanon
Ombudsman Calls for Probe On Olmert´s Appointments
National Union MK Wants Knesset Power To Call Inquiry
Minister Bar-On: Equal Burden for Rich and Poor
MK Beilin: Government without common denominator is doomed
MK Yatom: Defense Ministry's demand exaggerated
MK Oron: Government heading towards destruction
Labor officials: Budget discussions leading toward blowup with Kadima
MK Yacimovich: Explanation of budget – Kadima wants us out of government
Journalist-Turned MK Again Draws Fire
Poll: Israelis Relied on Nasrallah More Than Peretz To Tell Truth
Likud, Meretz Snub Appeal for Emergency Coalition Gov´t
Liberman sets 5 conditions for Israel Our Home to join emergency gov't
Minister Simhon: Defense establishment asking for fictional figures
MK Naveh: Olmert's explanations prove need for national commission of inquiry
Court Cuts State Legal Funding for Hanegbi by Two-Thirds
State Prosecutor Moves Ahead With Charges Against Beit Shemesh Mayor
Speaker to Begin Efforts Towards Forming an Emergency Coalition Gov’t
State Comptroller May Launch Investigation Against Olmert

International
Olmert: War Against Syria Would be 'Without Limits'
Arab Report: No Hostage Release Until IDF Leaves Lebanon
Peres Says PA Failure Precludes Further Demolitions
Many Officials May Face Criminal Charges in Europe

One side or the other

2006-09-04T09:08:00.000-07:00

Ed Koch commented the other day, "There is something terribly wrong with people seeking to demean and weaken the president in war time, thereby strengthening our country’s enemies."

Odd things are going on in our country, it seems. We have some people so anxious to get the president that they don't see beyond that goal, and others choose to believe that the people who have been trying to harm America since 1968 don't matter, are a nuisance, and we don't really need to be concerned about them.

Yet the evidence is that the people who want to hurt us really see themselves at war with the US and those who stand with her. They do want to believe that we are weak and unable to do what needs to be done.

One side or other will end up winning here.

Hopefully, we won't get caught staring at the trees while the forest burns down around us.

Morning World News Roundup

2006-09-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

Egypt

EU and member states

Iran

Iraq

Israel

Jordan

Lebanon

Nigeria

Nigerian oil delta seethes as militants are buried

North Korea

Palestinian Situation

Pakistan

Russia

Saudi Arabia

Serbian Situation:

Somalia

Sudan

Syria

Turkey

Learning about Islam

2006-09-02T05:02:00.000-07:00

A quick reference guide for those who don't have much background:

Islam does not have nearly as many sects and divisions as does Christianity, but there are a few and it is worth knowing something about them. The two biggest are the Sunnis and the Shi'ites, with the Sunnis being the largest of all and representing the vast majority of Muslims. Shi'ites are a minority everywhere except Iran.

After them, the two most influential sects are the Sufis and the Wahhabis. The Sufis represent a mystical tradition in Islam, whereas the Wahhabis are a strict traditionalist tradition which is dominant on the Arabian peninsula, but has little support elsewhere.

Unlike churches, mosques are not denominational. Despite the differences among Muslims, traditional Friday prayer services are largely similar and Muslims of any background are welcome to attend services at any mosque.

Who are the Sunnis?

Who are the Shi'ites?

Who are the Sufis?

Who are the Kahrijites?

Who are the Wahhabis?

Who are the Ismailis?
.

Who are the Zaidis?

Who are the Fatimids?

Who are the Nizari?

Who are the Alawis?

Who are the Druze?

Who are the Baha'i?

http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/islam/blfaq_islam_sects.htm

Other sites that might be useful:

A discussion between the differences between Wahabism and political radicalism in Islam that have followed the influence of Sayyid Qutb:

http://www.thewahhabimyth.com/

Wikipedia's article on the divisions of Islam:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divisions_of_Islam

Morning World News Roundup

2006-09-02T04:53:00.000-07:00

Afghanistan

Egypt

India

Indonesia

Iran

Iraq

Israel

Lebanon

North Korea

Pakistan

Palestinian situation

Somalia

Somali Islamists demand respect, power at peace talks

Sudan

Syria

Turkey

Venezuela

Chavez says he uncovered coup plot

Morning World News Roundup

2006-09-01T07:33:00.000-07:00

Afghanistan

India

Iran

Iraq

Israel

Kenya

Lebanon

North Korea

Pakistan

Palestinian situation

Nablus: Palestinians hurl explosives at IDF soldiers
150 protest against separation fence in Bilin
Donors conference raises USD 500 million for Palestinians
2 Kassam Rockets Fired on Friday Morning
Finland: 'EU must conduct talks with Hamas'

Russia

Somalia

Sudan

Syria

Thailand

UK
Thailand still baffled by insurgency

Venezuela

Terrorism

Something to ponder:

2006-08-31T16:13:00.000-07:00

I thought this summed up one of the things that we are dealing with in our era:

Though the West is surely not blameless, either through history or today, in its treatment of Muslims, the idea that responsibility for the woes of the Islamic world these past few hundred years can be laid at somebody else’s door is escapist fantasy.

The nasty regimes of countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt conveniently emphasise this victim status to divert attention from their own repression and inequality and to blame Israel. The failure of Palestinians to create an orderly and successful society is blamed on “the occupation”.

The failure of many Muslims in Europe, especially in Britain, to integrate effectively is laid at the feet of a white racist society that excludes them. The real injustices suffered by these communities become a convenient smokescreen to hide their own flaws.

This victim mentality reaches its apotheosis in the minds of a few in the hideous distortion of martyrdom. The image of the suicide bomber captures the ultimate catharsis of victimhood and at the same time the ultimate escape and liberation from it — the violent immolation of the victim on the altar of a sacred ideology. Of course this is a perversion of the very idea of sacrifice. Martyrdom is a willingness to die for one’s faith, not a willingness to take hundreds of innocents with you in the process.

Pierre Rehov, an Algerian-born French filmmaker, who produced a documentary, Suicide Killers, was asked in a TV interview this year how the world could end the madness of suicide bombings and terrorism. “Stop being politically correct and stop believing that this culture is a victim of ours,” he said.

Of course, this celebration of victimhood plays to the West’s deep sense of guilt, producing a fearful complementarity that makes today’s crisis so potent — a civilisation all too willing to accept the blame for the woes of a people all too willing to blame them.

Gerard Baker

We really need to ask ourselves who really is the victim here. Forget the sins of the fathers. All of our fathers have sinned, each and every one, and we all have been marked by their wrongdoing, no matter where we come from.

But today, let us see what is really happening.

Who builds its paramilitary structure right in the heart of civilian areas? Who lobs rockets where they know the most likely targets are civilians? Who calls for the destruction of entire nations, entire peoples? Who has been involved with what? Who was a combatant? Who chose the road of hate, and who tried to make a life? Who set bombs in airplanes full of civilians? Who flew airplanes into other buildings? Who set bombs off so that people on vacation would die? Who encourages the chaos that keeps Gaza a miserable place?

It is not the people on vacation, the people busy at work in New York, the people riding the Tubes in London, the firemen in Sweden who are pelted if they enter the wrong neighborhoods, people whose cars were burned in France, the bystanders who went to the store to have some person sweep the intersection with bullets, the Russian children kidnapped on the first day of school, the baby intentionally targeted by a sniper.

Name things what they truly are, and not what the meme of the day says they are, then make your decisions, one way or the other.

Who talks of hate instead of building? Who talks of death instead of living?

Some News Headlines from Israel

2006-08-31T14:07:00.000-07:00

UK embassy thanks Tel Aviv police
Weapon carried by Palestinian in embassy – plastic gun
Special Police Unit take Palestinian in British embassy into custody
Update From TA: Police Nab Arab At British Embassy

IDF Says Reuters Claim of IDF Missile Hit Not True

Abbas, Haniyeh discuss unity government
Palestinians hurl rocks at car; no injuries reported
IDF detonates 2 explosives in central Gaza; no injuries

Italian naval force arrives in Lebanon
IDF sources: Less than 50 percent of south Lebanese territory under UN control
IDF Denies U.N. Has Deployed in Most of Southern Lebanon
Karnit Goldwasser: World leaders must act for soldiers' release
Lebanon's prime minister says no contacts with Israel over prisoner swap
Donors pledge more than US$940 million to rebuild Lebanon
Lebanon Promises Hizbullah Will Not Receive Aid

Iran says atomic report shows US claims baseless
Halevy: We Must Prepare for Iranian Conflict

Peretz Stuns Kadima, May Back State Inquiry
Former Chief of Staff Calls on Leaders to Resign
Atlanta Update: Background of Arrest is Pornography
Braverman Tops Peretz in Poll

More thoughts on the Long War we find ourselves in:

2006-08-31T10:59:00.000-07:00

I personally would start the Long War (from the US being victimized by it, and finding out that we were combatants even without knowing it) on June 5, 1968, with the assassination of Bobby Kennedy.

Its' roots are many, and its causes are not simple.

It's complicated.

1) some of it is the reaction to autocratic, secular (more or less) and often corrupt states that rose at the end of the colonial period.

2) some of it is the reaction that comes from having the pressure of the Turkish empire released after a long era of bad government.

3) some of it is a reaction by various different religious leaders who saw what the West was becoming, saw the secular leanings that were taking place all over Islam, and started preaching against it (this is similar to the roots of the English Civil War and the puritians.)

4)Tied into tribalism (extended kinship groups) which is how much of the ME organizes itself.

5) movements within different major sects of Islam (the wahabist impulse vs. a more relaxed approach to Sunni Islam, somewhat a reaction to Sufiism as well, and certainly posed to fight against the heresy (as they see it) of Shiite Islam.

6) Shia on the other hand, got coopted by a movement pushed by Khomenei which saw the Immams as the ones who should be politically active and tell people how they should behave, instead of a more relaxed approach to guiding their flock that was once more common in Shia.

7) a pool of underemployed but educated young men.

8) economic changes in Saudi and some of the other countries which meant there was less chance for these young men to get ahead.

9. Multiple causes to gravitate to: Kashmir in India. The Russians in Afghanistan which led to the rise of the Taliban. The growing desire in Indonesia to create a truly Moslem state. The war in the Philipines with the Islamic forces who have been fighting the government for what seems like forever. And of course, Israel, which is both the symbol of all that is disliked about the west and about non-Islam being like a thorn thrust into the side of those countries near at hand - Israel which took a Palestine that was backwards and not very productive and made it bloom. This is a special poison that has been fed by keeping the Palestinians from integrating with the countries it took refuge in, except for Jordan...they are willingly used as tools to create the disruption and chaos.

10 and the desire for a Caliphate - both the sunni and shiite dream of this...and both are struggling to be king of the mountain.

It is woven together in a multilevel structure, with many twists and turns and ins and outs. It's NOT simple.

But the hatred that keeps the violence happening is fed by religious leaders, from a spectrum of Islamic sects. And as long as the religous leaders teach this hate, it's not going away.

When I was working on the list of Islamic terrorist actions, I discovered that back in the start of this period, there was a lot of action by several groups:

Leftwing US and European groups (The Weathermen, the Red Brigade and so on)

The IRA

The ETA

and a few smaller nationalist groups (one in Puerto Rico, some in Africa, the problems in Sri Lanka and a few others.) With time, many of these groups stopped their actions, as they began to either make political strides or they lost. If today, you could remove all the violence that involves Islam, the world would be a much quieter place than it has been in centuries.

Up through and into the 90s, The IRA and the ETA and the Tamil group continued to be active, but it was easy to see the ramping up of Islamic pan-nationalist groups, and now it's a veritable storm...focused on multiple centers: Israel, of course, Kashmir, the Philippines and non-Islamic Indonesia (including Malaysia and Thailand) and growing centers of trouble in Europe. The ETA and Tamils still kick up some squawking, and there are now militant Hindu groups, but pan-national Islamic groups are now speaking with the loudest voices.

And what they are saying is this:

We are standing up to save the world from unrighteousness.

You who are not of Islam are infidels, and therefore have no inherent right to exist. You really only have two choices: Convert or die. Even getting out of our way will only buy you some time, for we will not forget what you are. Our destruction of you is an appropriate way to fight the war for holiness.

Israel must be destroyed. All compromise on this issue is evil, and although we might suffer, and our children do without, it is a worthy cause.

We must rule the Umma, for we and we alone are the Righteous.

Those active in these groups are not people you can negotiate with in good faith. The causes of how we got here may not be simple, but the end result is simple and focused: they want all or nothing.

And we have to decide what we are going to let them have: the whole enchilada or martyrdom. At this point, in dealing with these movements, there is no middle way, not because of our unwillingness to compromise, work, help, but because this is the way they want it.

This is our reality. We must deal with it.

Morning News Roundup

2006-08-31T09:52:00.000-07:00

Afghanistan

Iran

Iraq

Israel

Jordan

Kashmir Situation

Woman among five killed in fresh Kashmir violence

Lebanon

Pakistan

Palestinian Situation

Ruin, despair in Gaza neighborhood after Israeli incursion

Philippines

Philippines soldiers discover mass grave

Sudan

Syria

Terrorism

The New Face of World War (and why it's already a long war)

2006-08-31T09:18:00.000-07:00

1968

December 26: Two Palestinian gunmen travel from Beirut to Athens, and attack an El Al jet there, killing one person

1970

* Switzerland - February 21: A bomb explodes in the rear of Swissair Flight 330, causing it to crash near Zürich, Switzerland, killing 38 passengers and all 9 crew members.It was done by Palestinian group PFLP

* Israel - May 8: Avivim school bus massacre by Palestinian PLO members, killing nine children, three adults and crippling 19.

* Jordan - September 6: Coordinated hijacking of four airliners. One hijacking is foiled in midair and two planes are diverted to Jordan’s Dawson Field. Nicaraguan hijacker Sandinista Patrick Arguello was killed and all passengers were freed after negotiated release of captured hijacker Leila Khaled and three PFLP prisoners. The following day a fifth aircraft was also hijacked. See Dawson's Field hijackings, Black September in Jordan.

1972

July 21: Four PLO terrorists hijacked a Sabena airliner carrying 99 passengers and 10 crew members on route from Brussels to Tel Aviv. In a mission entitled Operation Isotope, 16 members of Sayeret Matkal posed as refueling and technical personnel and stormed the plane, killing the terrorists and releasing the passengers.

.
September 5: Black September kidnaps and kills 11 Israeli Olympic athletes and one German policeman in the Munich Massacre.

1973

March 1: Black September takes ten hostages (five of them diplomats) at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Khartoum, Sudan. Three western diplomats are killed.

1974

April 11: Kiryat Shmona massacre at an apartment building by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine members, killing 18 people, 9 of whom were children

May 15: Ma'alot massacre at the Ma'alot High School in Northern Israel by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine members: 26 of the hostages were killed, 66 wounded.

September 8: TWA Flight 841: Bomb kills 88 on jetliner.(Abu Nidal suspected)

1975

March 5: In the Savoy Operation PLO gunmen from Lebanon take dozens of hostages at the Tel Aviv Savoy Hotel eventually killing eight hostages and three IDF soldiers, and wounding 11 hostages.

December 1975: Carlos the Jackal and his rebels attack OPEC headquarters in Vienna, Austria and take over 60 hostages - mostly they were OPEC countries' leaders. On December 22 the hostages and rebels are transported in a DC-9 to Algiers where 30 hostages were freed; the plane was then flown to Tripoli, Libya where more hostages were freed before flying back to Algiers where the remaining hostages were freed and the rebels were granted asylum.

1976

June 26–July 4: Hijacking of Air France Flight 139 by Palestinian PFLP and German Revolutionäre Zellen(Tel Aviv-Paris); Operation Entebbe: 4 hostages, one Sayeret Matkal soldier and 45 Ugandian soldiers killed.

1977

March 9: Three buildings in Washington, DC are seized and over 100 hostages taken. Washington city councilman Marion Barry is shot in the chest during the incident and after a standoff all hostages are released from the District building, B'nai B'rith, and the Islamic Center. (Hanafi Muslims)

October 13: Lufthansa flight LH 181 was kidnapped by a group of four PFLP to Mogadishu it was freed by GSG-9 commando group.

1978

March 11: Coastal Road massacre: Fatah gunmen killed several tourists and hijack a bus near Haifa; 37 Israelis on the bus are killed.

1979

2 November: Sunni militant group of 1, 300 to 1,500 men seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca Saudi Arabia.

November 4: Iran hostage crisis, a 444-day standoff during which student proxies of the new Iranian regime held hostage 66 diplomats and citizens of the United States inside the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

1980

April 30: Iranian Embassy siege: Iraqi agents take over the Iranian Embassy in London, gaining hostages. After a number of days, one hostage was killed by the Iraqis, and the Special Air Service assaulted the building to rescue the remaining hostages. One hostage died during the assault.

July 27: A member of the Abu Nidal Organization carried out a grenade attack on a group of Jews waiting for a bus in Antwerp, Belgium, killing a child and wounding twenty others. Said Al Nasr will be convicted for this act.

October 3: Four congregants were killed and twelve others injured in a bomb attack on the rue Copernic synagogue in Paris, France. Responsibility was claimed by the National European Fascists (FNE), but the police investigation concluded that Palestinian terrorists were involved.

1981

October 6: Assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat by Islamic Jihad.

October 20: Attack on a synagogue in Antwerp, Belgium, killing three and wounding sixty.

1982

March 29: A bomb on board the Paris-Toulouse train, kills 5 injures 27. Carlos usually assumed to be responsible.

August 9: Rue des Rosiers, Paris gunning and bombing of Goldenberg restaurant : 6 killed 22 wounded - Fatah - the Revolutionary Council

September 14: Assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Bashir Gemayel and twenty-five others in a car explosion at the Kataeb headquarters.

1983

April 18: U.S. Embassy Bombing in Beirut, Lebanon kills 63.

September 23: Gulf Air Flight 771 is bombed, killing all 117 people on board. (Abu Nidal)

October 23: Marine Barracks Bombing in Beirut kills 241 U.S. Marines. 58 French troops from the multinational force are also killed in a separate attack.

December 31: On the way to New Year's Eve 7 persons are killed and 70 wounded by bombs on the Marseille to Paris TGV and at the St-Charles station in Marseille. The attack is attributed to Carlos on behalf of the O.L.A.

1985

February 23: Paris Marks & Spencer shop, 1 bomb, 1 dead, 18 wounded, attributed to pro-Iranian Lebanese Hizbollah

March 8: Car bomb explodes in Beirut, killing 80, injuring 175; reportedly planned and executed by the United States CIA

March 9: Paris, Cinema Rivoli, 18 injured, pro-Iranian Lebanese Hizbollah

June 14: TWA Flight 847 skyjacking, Hezbollah

October 7 – October 10: Achille Lauro cruise ship hijacking by Palestinian Liberation Front, during which passenger Leon Klinghoffer is shot dead.

October 11: Arab anti-discrimination group leader Alex Odeh is killed when a bomb explodes in his Santa Ana, California office.

November 23: EgyptAir Flight 648 hijacked by Abu Nidal group, flown to Malta, where Egyptian commandos storm plane; 60 are killed by gunfire and explosions.

December 7: Paris, Galeries Lafayette and Printemps shops, two bombs, 51 injured, attributed to pro-Iranian Lebanese Hizbollah

December 27: Rome and Vienna Airport Attacks. (Fatah)

1986

February 3: Paris, Claridge passage (Champs Élysées) 7 injured, another bomb failed to explode in the Eiffel tower, pro-Iranian (Fouad Ali Saleh group)

February 4: Paris, Gibert book shop, 7 injured, Fouad Ali Saleh

April 2: TWA Flight 840 bombed on approach to Athens airport; four passengers (all of them American), including an infant, are killed. (connected to Abu Nidal)

April 6: the La Belle discotheque in Berlin, a known hangout for U.S. soldiers, was bombed, killing three and injuring 230 people, for which Libya is held responsible. In retaliation, the US bombs Libya in Operation El Dorado Canyon and tries to kill Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi.

September 5: Pan Am Flight 73, an American civilian airliner, is hijacked; 22 people die when plane is stormed in Karachi, Pakistan.
(Abu Nidal)

December 25: Iraqi Airways Flight 163 is hijacked. The pro-Iranian group "Islamic Jihad" claimed responsibility.

1988

December 21: Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. At the time, it was the worst act of terrorism perpetrated against the United States, and among the worst acts of terrorism in European history, see FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Eventually, Libya admitted that two of its agents carried out the attack.

1989

July 9: Two bombs explode in Mecca, killing one pilgrim and wounding 16 others.

September 19: Suitcase-bomb destroys UTA Flight UT-772 en route to Paris, killing all 171 passengers and crew. Libyan intelligence involved.

1990

PLF attack in the beaches on Tel Aviv
PLO attack on the US. embassy
(I don't have the dates for these events)

1992

March 17: Israeli Embassy bombing by "Islamic Jihad" in Buenos Aires, Argentina; 29 killed, 242 injured.

1993

January 25: Mir Aimal Kansi, a Pakistani, fires an AK-47 assault rifle into cars waiting at a stoplight in front of the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters. Two CIA employees died.

February 26: World Trade Center bombing kills 6 and injures over 1000 people, by coalition of five groups: Jamaat Al-Fuqra'/Gamaat Islamiya/Hamas/Islamic Jihad/National Islamic Front

June: Failed New York City landmark bomb plot.

1994

March 1: In the Brooklyn Bridge Shooting, Rashid Baz kills a Hasidic seminary student and wounds 4 on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City in response to the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre.

July 18: Bombing of Jewish Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 86 and wounds 300. Generally attributed to Hezbollah acting on behalf of Iran.

July 19: Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901 is bombed, killing 21. Generally attributed to Hezbollah.

July 26: Israeli Embassy Attack in London and a Jewish charity are car-bombed, wounding 20. Attributed by Britain, Argentina, and Israel to Hezbollah.

November 25: Stoning of female competitors in marathon race by ultra conservatives at the behest of clerics begins Islamist uprising in Bahrain.

December 11: A small bomb explodes on board Philippine Airlines Flight 434, killing a Japanese businessman. Authorities found out that Ramzi Yousef planted the bomb to test it for his planned terrorist attack.

December 24: Air France Flight 8969 is hijacked by GIA members who planned to crash the plane on Paris but didn't succeed.

1995

January 6: Operation Bojinka plot to bomb 11 U.S. airliners is discovered on a laptop computer in a Manila, Philippines apartment by authorities after an apartment fire occurred in the apartment, by Jemaah Islamiyah/Konsojaya/Abu Sayyaf Group/Ramzi Yousef/Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

June 14—June 19: Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis, 105 civilians and 25 Russian troops were killed.

July—October: Bombings in France by a GIA unit led by Khaled Kelkal kill eight and injure more than 100.

November 13: Bombing of OPM-SANG building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia kills 7

November 19: Bombing of Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan kills 19.

1996

January: In Kizlyar, 350 Chechen militants took 3,000 hostages in a hospital. The attempt to free them kills 65 civilians and soldiers.

February 25 - March 4: A series of four suicide bombings in Israel leave 60 dead and 284 wounded within 10 days.

June 25: Khobar Towers bombing -- In all, 19 U.S. servicemen and one Saudi were killed and 372 wounded, by Hizballah Al-Hijaz (Saudi Hizballah) with Iranian support.

1998

January : Wandhama Massacre - 24 Kashmiri Pandits are massacred by Pakistan-backed insurgents in the city of Wandhama in Indian-controlled Kashmir .

February 14: 1998 Coimbatore bombings -Bombings by suspected Islamic Jihadi groups on an election rally in Indian city of Coimbatore kill about 60 people.

February 25: Serial bombing in Coimbatore, a southern Indian city, which kill at least 61 people.

Kenya August 7: U.S. embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, killing 225 people and injuring more than 4,000, by al-Qaeda.

1999

January 3: Gunmen open fire on Shi'a Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad mosque, killing 16 people injuring 25.

April 26: An explosion inside an elevator at the Intourist hotel in Moscow injured 11 people.

August 31 – September 22: Russian Apartment Bombings kills about 300 people, leading Russia into Second Chechen War.

December: Jordanian authorities foil a plot to bomb US and Israeli tourists in Jordan and pick up 28 suspects as part of the 2000 millennium attack plots

December 14: Ahmed Ressam is arrested on the United States–Canada border in Port Angeles, Washington; he confessed to planning to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport as part of the 2000 millennium attack plots

December 24: Indian Airlines Flight 814 from Kathmandu, Nepal to Delhi, India is hijacked. One passenger is killed and some hostages are released. After negotiations between the Taliban and the Indian government, the last of the remaining hostages on board Flight 814 are released in exchange for release of 4 terrorists.

2000

The last of the 2000 millennium attack plots fails, as the boat meant to bomb USS The Sullivans sinks
.
May: The Balochistan Liberation Army begins its attacks against government and military targets in Balochistan.

June 8: Stephen Saunders, a British Defense Attaché, was assassinated by Revolutionary Organization 17 November in Athens.

August 8: A bomb exploded at an underpass in Pushkin Square in Moscow, killing 11 people and wounding more than 90.

October 12: USS Cole bombing kills 17 US sailors and wounds 40 off the port coast of Aden, Yemen, by al-Qaeda.

November 22: two Israeli women killed and 60 civilians wounded in a car bomb attack in Hadera.

December 30 Rizal Day Bombings, terrorists blow up LRts in Manila killing 22 and injuring more than 100 people.

2001

February 5: A bomb blast in Moscow's Byelorusskaya metro station injures 15 people.

March 4: 3 elderly Israelis killed in a suicide bombing in downtown Netanya. Hamas claimed responsibility.

March 24: Twenty people die and 93 are injured in three bomb attacks on Russian towns near the border of Chechnya.

March 26: Israeli infant Shalhevet Pass is fatally shot in the head by a Palestinian sniper in Hebron.

April 3: eight people are lightly injureed due to a bomb late at night on Yisod HaMaaleh Street in Hod HaSharon

April 22: a Kfar-Saba doctor of American origin killed by a suicide bomber. 60 people are wounded, Hamas claimed responsibility.

May 18: 5 Israelis killed in a suicide bombing in Netanya. Over 100 are wounded, Hamas claimed responsibility. An Israeli soldier off-duty is killed by gunfire while driving.

June 1: 21 civilians, mostly teenagers from the former Soviet Union, are killed by a Hamas suicide bomber in the Dolphinarium massacre in Tel Aviv, Israel

August 9: A suicide bomber in Jerusalem kills seven and wounds 130 in the Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing; Hamas and Islamic Jihad claim responsibility.

September 11: The attacks on September 11 killed 2,997 in a series of hijacked airliner crashes into two U.S. landmarks: the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, and The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. A fourth plane, originally intended to hit an unknown, but likely prominent, Washington, D.C. target, crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, after an apparent revolt against the hijackers by the plane's passengers; by al-Qaeda

September 11: Paris embassy attack plot foiled.

October 4: 3 people killed when a gunman opens fire in the central bus station in Afula. 13 people are injured, Fatah claimed responsibility.

October 17: Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi is assassinated by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

October 28: 4 people killed and 40 wounded when Palestinian policemen attack a crowded bus stop in Hedera. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. An Israeli soldier killed in the Galilee in a drive-by shooting. Tanzim claimed responsibility.

November 27: two Israeli young women killed when the central bus station in Afula is attacked. 50 people are injured. Fatah and the Islamic Jihad claimed joint responsibility. An Israeli settler killed in a grenade attack in Gaza. Hamas claimed responsibility.

December 22: Richard Reid, attempting to destroy American Airlines Flight 63, is subdued by passengers and flight attendants before he could detonate his shoe bomb.

2002

January: Kidnapping and murder of journalist Daniel Pearl.

March 27: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 30 and injures 140 during Passover festivities in a hotel in Netanya, Israel in the Passover massacre.

March 31: A Hamas suicide bomber kills 15 and injures over 40 in Haifa, Israel, in the Matza restaurant massacre.

April 11: A natural gas truck fitted with explosives is driven into a synagogue in Tunisia by an al-Qaeda member, killing 21 and wounding more than 30 in the Ghriba Synagogue Attack.

May 8: May 8 Bus Attack in Karachi kills 11 Frenchmen and two Pakistanis.

May 9: A bomb explosion in Kaspiisk in Dagestan kills at least 42 people and injures 130 or more during Victory Day festivities.

May 13: 12 people are killed in the Jaunpur train crash in India, caused when Islamic extremists cut the rails.

June 14: Car bomb at US Consulate in Karachi kills 12.

June 18: A Hamas suicide bomber detonates himself on a bus in Jerusalem in the Patt junction massacre. The attack kills 19 people and wounds over 74.

July 4: An Egyptian gunman opens fire at an El Al ticket counter in Los Angeles International Airport, killing 2 Israelis before being killed himself.

September 25: Two terrorists belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed group raid the Akshardham temple complex in Ahmedabad, India killing 30 people and injuring many more.

October: John Allen Muhammed and Lee Boyd Malvo conduct the Beltway Sniper Attacks, killing 10 people in various locations throughout the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area from October 2 until they are arrested on October 24.

October 6: Limburg tanker bombing in Yemen.

October 12: Bali bombing of holidaymakers kills 202 people, mostly Western tourists and local Balinese hospitality staff.

October 17: Zamboanga bombings in the Philippines kill six and wounds about 150.

October 18: A bus bomb in Manila kills three people and wounds 22.

October 19: A car bomb explodes outside a McDonald's Corp. restaurant in Moscow, killing one person and wounding five.

October 23: Moscow theater hostage crisis begins; 120 hostages and 40 terrorists killed in rescue three days later.

November 21: Hamas orchestrates the Jerusalem bus 20 massacre. 11 people are killed and over 50 wounded when a suicide bomber detonates on a crowded bus in central Jerusalem.

December 27: The truck bombing of the Chechen parliament in Grozny kills 83 people.

2003

March 4: Bomb attack in an airport in Davao kills 21.

March 5: A Hamas suicide bomber kills 17 people and wounds 53 when he detonates a bomb hidden under his clothing in the Haifa bus 37 massacre.

March 23: SGT Hasan Akbar, USA, murdered 2 officers and wounded 14 soldiers in a grenade attack at an Army base in Iraq.

May 12: Bombings of United States expatriate housing compounds in Saudi Arabia kill 26 and injure 160 in the Riyadh Compound Bombings. Al-Qaeda blamed.

May 12: A truck bomb attack on a government building in the Chechen town of Znamenskoye kills 59.

May 14: As many as 16 die in a suicide bombing at a religious festival in southeastern Chechnya.

May 16: Casablanca Attacks by 12 bombers on five "Western and Jewish" targets in Casablanca, Morocco leaves 41 dead and over 100 injured. Attack attributed to a Moroccan al-Qaeda-linked group.

July 5: 15 people die and 40 are injured in bomb attacks at a rock festival in Moscow.

August 1: An explosion at the Russian hospital in Mozdok in North Ossetia kills at least 50 people and injures 76.

August 19: Canal Hotel Bombing in Baghdad, Iraq, kills 22 people (including the top UN representative Sergio Vieira de Mello) and wounds over 100.

August 19: Jerusalem bus 2 massacre: A Hamas suicide bomber detonates himself on a crowded bus carrying mostly Orthodox Jewish Israelis, including many children returning from the Western Wall. 23 people are killed and over 130 wounded.

September 3: A bomb blast on a passenger train near Kislovodsk in southern Russia kills seven people and injures 90.

October 4: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 21 and wounds 51 in a Haifa restaurant in the Maxim restaurant massacre.

October 15: A bomb is detonated by Palestinians against a US diplomatic convoy in the Gaza Strip, killing three Americans.

November 15 and November 20: Truck bombs go off at two synagogues, the British Consulate, and the HSBC Bank in Istanbul, Turkey, killing 57 and wounding 700 in the 2003 Istanbul Bombings.

December 5: Suicide bombers kill at least 46 people in an attack on a train in southern Russia

December 9: A blast in the center of Moscow kills six people and wounds at least 11.

2004

January 29: Jerusalem bus 19 massacre: Hamas and Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades orchestrate a suicide bombing on a bus in Jerusalem, Israel killing 11 people and wounding more than 50.

February 6: Bomb on Moscow Metro kills 41.

February 27: Superferry 14 is bombed in the Philippines by Abu Sayyaf, killing 116.

March 2: Ashoura Massacre: Suicide bombings at Shia holy sites in Iraq kill 181 and wound more than 500 during the Ashura.

March 2: Attack on procession of Shia Muslims in Pakistan kills 43 and wounds 160.

March 9: Attack of Istanbul restaurant in Turkey.

March 11: Coordinated bombing of commuter trains in Madrid, Spain, kills 191 people and injures more than 1,500.

March 24: Israeli soldiers arrest Hussam Abdo, a 15 year-old Palestinian boy with explosives strapped to his chest at the Hawara Checkpoint. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades sent Abdo on a suicide mission to bomb the checkpoint.

April 21: Bombing of a security building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia kills five.

May 1: 2004 Yanbu attack kills six Westerners and a Saudi in Saudi Arabia.

May 2: Pregnant Israeli commuter Tali Hatuel and her four young children are gunned down at close range by militants from the Popular Resistance Committees and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

May 29: Al-Khobar massacres, in which Islamic militants kill 22 people at an oil compound in Saudi Arabia.

August 24: Russian aircraft bombings kill 90.

August 31: A blast near a subway station entrance in northern Moscow, caused by a suicide bomber, kills 10 people and injures 33
.
September 1 – 3: Beslan school hostage crisis in North Ossetia, Russia, results in 344 dead.

September 9: Jakarta embassy bombing, in which the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia was bombed, killing eight people.

October 7: Sinai bombings: Three car bombs explode in the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 34 and wounding 171, many of them Israeli and other foreign tourists.

December 6: Suspected al Qaeda-linked group attacks U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing five local employees.

December 12: A bombing at the Christmas market in General Santos, Philippines, kills 15.

2005
.

February 14: A car bomb kills former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 20 others in Beirut. See also: 2005 Lebanon bombings.

February 25: A suicide bomber in Tel Aviv kills five Israelis and undermines a weeks-old truce between the two sides.

March 19: Car bomb attack on theatre in Doha, Qatar, kills one Briton and wounds 12 others.

April: April 2005 terrorist attacks in Cairo – On April 7 a suicide bomber blows himself up in Cairo's Khan al Khalili market, killing three foreign tourists and wounding 17 others. In two further attacks on April 30, suspected accomplices detonate a bomb and spray a tourist coach with gunfire.

June 1: A suicide bomber blows up in a mosque in Kandahar, Afghanistan, killing 20 people.

June 12: Bombs explode in the Iranian cities of Ahvaz and Tehran, leaving 10 dead and 80 wounded days before the Iranian presidential election.

July 7: 7 July 2005 London bombings – Bombs explode on one double-decker bus and three London Underground trains, killing 56 people and injuring over 700, occurring on the first day of the 31st G8 Conference. The attacks are believed by many to be the first suicide bombings in Western Europe.

July 12: Islamic Jihad takes responsibility for a suicide bombing in Netanya, Israel, which kills five people at a shopping mall.

July 21: 21 July 2005 London bombings - Small explosions in three London Underground stations and one double-decker bus. This was pronounced as a "major incident" rather than an attack, and only minor injuries were reported. These 4 bombs were designed to cause as much damage as the 7 July 2005 London bombings, but the explosives had deteriorated and failed to detonate.

July 23: Sharm el-Sheikh bombings – Car bombs explode at tourist sites in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, killing at least 88 and wounding more than 100.

August 4: Jewish settler in an IDF uniform opens fire on a bus in Shfaram, Israel, killing 4 Israeli Arabs and wounding 5.

August 17: 17 August 2005 Bangladesh bombings: Around 100 homemade bombs explode in 58 different locations in Bangladesh, killing two and wounding 100.

October 1: A series of explosions occurs in resort areas of Jimabaran Beach and Kuta in Bali, Indonesia.

October 13: A large group of Chechen rebels launched coordinated attacks on Russian federal buildings, local police stations, and the airport in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria. At least 137 people, including 92 rebels, were killed.

October 15: Two bombs exploded at a shopping mall in Ahvaz, Khuzestan in Iran. Six people died and over 100 were injured.

October 24: Multiple car bombs explode outside the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, killing at least 11. It is thought that the attacks were targeting journalists inside the Palestine Hotel and the Sheraton Ishtar.

October 26: A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates a bomb near a falafel stand in Hadera, Israel that kills himself and six others. Twenty-six people were also wounded.

November 9: Three explosions at hotels in Amman, Jordan, leave at least 60 dead and 120 wounded.

December 5: A suicide bomb attack kills at least five people in Netanya in north-western Israel.

2006

* 2006: Palestinian terrorists (Hamas) fire Qassam missiles into Israel, especially the cities of Ashkelon and Sderot, and have injured many citizens and caused civilian damage.

February 21: A car bomb explodes in a south suburban Baghdad marketplace, killing 20 and wounding 25.

February 22: Al Askari Mosque bombing ignites sectarian strife in Iraq.

February 28: An explosion near a Shiite mosque in Baghdad, Iraq kills 25 people and wounds 43.

March 2: Bombing in Karachi, Pakistan kills four, including a U.S. diplomat.

March 3: Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, an Iranian-born graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, drives an SUV onto a crowded part of campus, injuring nine.

March 7: Two explosions in downtown Addis Ababa, Ethiopia injure four people.

March 9: A roadside bomb kills six and injures seven in Baghdad, Iraq.

March 30: Palestinian suicide bomber kills himself and four others at Kedumim Junction in the West Bank

April 11: A suicide bomber explodes himself in Karachi, Pakistan kills 57 Sunni worshippers.

April 17: Sami Hammad, a Palestinian suicide bomber, detonates an explosive device in Tel Aviv, Israel, killing eleven people and injuring 70.

April 24: Bombings at three locations in Dahab, Egypt kill 20 Egyptians, 3 foreigners, and injure 62 others.

May 10: A motorcycle bomb explodes at a marketplace in Pattani, Thailand, killing two women and a police officer.

May 11: Six policemen die and 12 are injured when five bombs go off in a police academy in Quetta, Pakistan

June 25: Eliyahu Asheri, an Israeli citizen, was kidnapped and murdered by the Palestinian terrorist group, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC).

July 9: 40 Sunni civilians are massacred by Shia militants in Baghdad, Iraq.

July 14: Suicide bomber in Karachi, Pakistan kills a Shiite Islamic cleric Allama Hasan Turabi and his nephew.

July 16: Hezbollah rains rockets down on Northern Israel, reaching Haifa and killing eight Israelis at a train depot there.

July 17: Explosions and gunmen kill 48 people in a market in Mahmoudiya, Iraq

July 18: Car bombing near a Shiite shrine in Kufa, Iraq kills 53 and injures 103.

July 31: Crudely made suitcase bombs were planted in two regional trains to Hamm and Koblenz in Germany that did not explode due a technical fault. Two suspects, young Lebanese men, have been arrested.

August 4: A suicide car bomber struck a market in Kandahar, Afghanistan killing 21 people

August 10: A major anti-terrorist operation disrupts a bomb plot targeting multiple airplanes flying through Heathrow Airport, near London, UK.

August 13: Two grenades explode on a trolleybus in Tiraspol, Moldova, killing two people and injuring ten.

August 16: A bomb explodes in a market in Baghdad, Iraq, killing seven and wounding 18.

August 20: Two suitcase bombs found on trains are suspected of being part of a terrorist plot after originally thought to be part of a blackmail incident

August 20: Gunmen spray bullets on Shiites in Baghdad, killing 20 people and wouding more than 300.

(This list is not exhaustive.)

Evening News from Swiss Info

2006-08-30T19:51:00.000-07:00

Evening News Roundup from Swiss Info

Aug 31, 2006 - 12:08 AM

Israel rejects U.N. appeal

By Luke BakerJERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel rejected a call by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan on Wednesday to lift its air and sea blockade...

Aug 30, 2006 - 7:08 PM

U.S. sees Iraq army fit in 18 months

By Alastair MacdonaldBAGHDAD (Reuters) - Bombers killed nearly 50 Iraqis on Wednesday, mostly in Baghdad, but the top U.S. commander said a...

Aug 30, 2006 - 10:08 PM

Iran sanctions to be discussed

By Carol Giacomo and Sue PlemingWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Major powers will begin discussing an Iran sanctions resolution at a meeting in...

Aug 30, 2006 - 6:53 PM

Chavez vows solidarity with Syria

By Khaled Yacoub OweisDAMASCUS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez pledged solidarity on Wednesday with Syria in its struggle...

Aug 30, 2006 - 1:53 PM

Iran enriching uranium ahead of U.N. deadline: paper

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran has begun enriching a new batch of uranium just days ahead of a U.N. deadline for Tehran to suspend atomic fuel...

Aug 30, 2006 - 11:38 PM

Bush's new campaign to defend Iraq war

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - For the third time in less than a year and two months before crucial U.S. elections, President George W....

Aug 30, 2006 - 11:38 PM

Monitors blame Sri Lanka forces for aid massacre

By Peter AppsCOLOMBO (Reuters) - International ceasefire monitors blamed Sri Lankan troops on Wednesday for the killing of 17 aid workers...

Aug 30, 2006 - 7:37 PM

Bomb in Turkish port city wounds woman

By Emma Ross-ThomasISTANBUL (Reuters) - A homemade bomb wounded a 20-year-old woman in Turkey's Mediterranean port city of Mersin on...

Aug 30, 2006 - 7:37 PM

Hurricane John menaces Mexican resorts

By Chris AspinMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Hurricane John grew into a powerful Category 4 storm on Wednesday, threatening Mexican Pacific resorts...

Aug 30, 2006 - 1:53 PM

Iran faces sanction deadline

By Mark HeinrichVIENNA (Reuters) - Iran faces the risk of sanctions after a U.N. nuclear watchdog report on Thursday that is likely to find...

Aug 30, 2006 - 10:08 PM

Tourist seized in Niger says not prisoner

By Nick TattersallDAKAR (Reuters) - An Italian tourist seized by a Saharan rebel group on the border between Niger and Chad told Reuters on...

Aug 30, 2006 - 7:08 PM

Red Cross worker killed in Darfur after abduction

GENEVA (Reuters) - A Sudanese national working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who was abducted in Sudan's Darfur...

Aug 30, 2006 - 6:37 PM

Diminished Ernesto weakens further over Florida

By Tom BrownMIAMI (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Ernesto weakened over Florida on Wednesday, coming ashore as a rainstorm instead of a dreaded...

Aug 30, 2006 - 6:07 PM

Militants say behead two men for being U.S. "spies"

WANA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pro-Taliban militants in northwest Pakistan beheaded two men they accused of being U.S. spies and a boy who had...

Aug 30, 2006 - 4:38 PM

Israel kills 7 Palestinians in Gaza Strip

By Nidal al-MughrabiGAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed three Palestinian gunmen and four civilians on Wednesday, pressing on with an...

Aug 30, 2006 - 4:25 PM

Captor's colleague says he met "happy" Austrian girl

By Karin StroheckerVIENNA (Reuters) - A colleague of the man who held Natascha Kampusch captive for eight years in a cell under his garage...

Aug 30, 2006 - 5:39 PM

Las Vegas ends late-night wedding-licence service

By Alexandria SageLAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Las Vegas bills itself as "the wedding capital of the world", but late-night revellers who decide...

Aug 30, 2006 - 5:39 PM

Nobel Prize-winning author Naguib Mahfouz dies

By Summer SaidCAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz, the only writer in Arabic to win the Nobel Prize for literature, died on...

Aug 30, 2006 - 9:38 AM

Bomb blast kills 24 in Baghdad market

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A bomb exploded in a central Baghdad market on Wednesday, killing 24 people and wounding 35, police and Interior...

Aug 30, 2006 - 8:38 AM

China pursuing "diplomacy" with Iran

BEIJING (Reuters) - Iran and oil-famished China agreed on favouring a diplomatic solution to international confrontation over Tehran's...

Aug 30, 2006 - 12:23 PM

Chinese sex slave case dismissed by Japan court

TOKYO (Reuters) - Chinese women who said they were forced to act as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War Two lost their bid for...

Aug 30, 2006 - 10:37 AM

Israel kills 5 Palestinians in Gaza Strip

By Nidal al-MughrabiGAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed three Palestinian gunmen and two civilians on Wednesday, pressing on with an...

Aug 30, 2006 - 12:08 AM

Kurdish rebels warn of "hell"

By Thomas GroveANTALYA, Turkey (Reuters) - A shadowy Kurdish rebel group threatened on Tuesday to turn Turkey into "hell" after a two-day...

Aug 30, 2006 - 11:53 AM

China foils oilfield and power plant bombings

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police have seized explosives and foiled attempts by separatists to blow up oilfields, power plants and highways...

Aug 30, 2006 - 2:23 AM

New Orleans marks Katrina anniversary

By Peter Henderson and Matt DailyNEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - New Orleans residents marched through their battered city on Tuesday, marking the...

Aug 29, 2006 - 11:09 PM

Polygamist sect leader held in Nevada

By Cathy ScottLAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Fugitive polygamist sect leader Warren Steed Jeffs, one of the FBI's 10 most wanted men, was arrested...

Aug 30, 2006 - 6:54 AM

Bomb kills three at Iraqi army centre

HILLA, Iraq (Reuters) - A bomb exploded at an Iraqi army recruitment centre in the town of Hilla, south of Baghdad, on Wednesday, killing at...

Aug 30, 2006 - 8:07 AM

Hurricane John closes in on Mexico

By Chris AspinMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Hurricane John grew into a powerful cyclone off Mexico's Pacific Coast on Tuesday, threatening to...

Aug 30, 2006 - 3:23 AM

Storm threat to Florida eases

By Tom BrownMIAMI (Reuters) - The threat Tropical Storm Ernesto posed to Florida diminished on Tuesday as it failed to gain strength over...

Aug 30, 2006 - 3:23 AM

JonBenet killer still unknown

By Dan WhitcombBOULDER, Colo. (Reuters) - Two weeks after the stunning arrest of John Mark Karr for the long-unsolved murder of 6-year-old...

Aug 29, 2006 - 11:53 PM

Vote on U.N. troops for Darfur sought

By Opheera McDoom and Irwin ArieffKHARTOUM/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States and Britain plan to push for a vote on a U.N....

Aug 29, 2006 - 11:09 PM

Ahmadinejad challenges Bush to TV debate

By Parisa HafeziTEHRAN (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday challenged U.S. President George W. Bush to a televised debate...

Aug 30, 2006 - 3:07 AM

Brazil's Lula pledges to help poor in second term

By Ricardo AmaralSAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva promised more government spending and social programs to...

Aug 30, 2006 - 3:37 AM

Wolves return to eastern Germany

By Erik KirschbaumBERLIN (Reuters) - A century after they were wiped out by hunters and a burgeoning population, wolves have returned to...

Aug 29, 2006 - 9:07 PM

Explosion kills 29 petrol scavengers in Iraq

By Imad al-KhozaieNEAR DIWANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - At least 29 people were killed when a blast ripped through scavengers siphoning petrol...

Aug 30, 2006 - 12:38 AM

Donors urge Somalia power-sharing deal

By Simon JohnsonSTOCKHOLM (Reuters) - International donors urged Somalia's interim government and Islamists on Tuesday to strike a...

Memes of Destruction and Freelancing

2006-08-30T19:32:00.000-07:00

One of the sad things that have come out of all the anti-US and anti-West feeling are a small stream of what I call freelancers. Seeming to be victims of emotional problems, they have picked up on the idea that it is a righteous act to strike out against the infidel (i.e., Americans, or American Jews or whatever target group they have focused on) and in acting out the violence in their illnesses, they can cause quite a bit of mayhem, even though they are not officially connected to any known terrorist group.

We have seen two cases of it recently: the man who recently attacked people in Seattle and yesterday's attacks on pedestrians in San Francisco. In both cases these were caused by people with Asian Islamic roots, and both seem to have been troubled men.

Do we call these people terrorists? Their purpose was to strike out in a terroristic way against their perceived enemies, but do they count, or are they merely victims of the memes of destruction, that cultural concept that the Jews, the Americans, the Westerners are inherently the bad guy, and thus become the focal point for their behavior? And if we choose to say no, when does a deranged act cease being an act of the mentally ill, and become true political terrorism?

Do Malvo and John Muhammed count, with their intentional sniping of people in Baltimore, acts intentionally meant to terrorize? Or do you need to be even more organized, more politically motivated?

Just a thought. How do we protect ourselves against the memes of destruction? How do we keep ourselves safe from those who pick up on the anger and hate-based politics running rampant in the world today?

Questions I don't have answers to.

Morning News Roundup

2006-08-30T06:35:00.000-07:00

Afghanistan

Coalition soldiers kill 18 'extremists' in Afghanistan
18 insurgents killed in Afghanistan
U.S.-led troops kill 18 in Afghanistan
Ambush, bombs kill 20 in rising Afghan violence
Four dead in Afghanistan blasts
Beheaded bodies of two Afghans found in Pakistan tribal area

China

Report: China seeks air marshal training
China Calling for Dialogue With Iran
Report: North Korean leader might be in China
Iran envoy and China's foreign minister discuss nuclear issue

Europe

Italian, French PMs to meet on Lebanon deployment

Hezbollah

Annan to request that Iran and Syria stop transferring arms to Hizbullah
Hizbullah says Israeli soldiers won't be freed unconditionally
Hizbullah: We're rearming for next confrontation with Israel
Arab Journalist In January Forecast Hizbullah War
American Military Experts Say Hizbullah Remains Strong
Foreign Media Focus On Israeli Blockade, Play Down Hostage Issue
Hizbullah Agents Eliminated by Elite Police Force
Hizbullah: No unconditional release of soldiers

Iran

Annan to request that Iran and Syria stop transferring arms to Hizbullah
China Calling for Dialogue With Iran
UN not likely to confront Iran until mid-September
Iranian VP visits Lebanon as aid package takes shape
Ex-Iran President Khatami gets U.S. visa
Iran faces risk of sanctions
Iran's atomic chief to visit Russia next week
Iran envoy and China's foreign minister discuss nuclear issue
U.N. may hold off on confronting Iran

Iraq
Iraqi forces strike truce with Shiite militia after battles kill at least 80
Early Iraq pullout "ruinous" to U.S. security: Cheney

Israel

Chairman of Pensioner's Union: Decrease of poor pensioners ridiculous
Peretz: Defense budget won't come at expense of poor
Israeli FM, UN Chief hope ceasefire deal will evolve into full peace
Foreign Media Focus On Israeli Blockade, Play Down Hostage Issue
Peres, Annan Agree That Hostage Release Is Top Priority
Braverman Warns Labor Party May Split Up
Burglars Strike the Home of IDF Intelligence Chief
Report: State Comptroller Expected to Act on Olmert Bribery Allegations
Pilots Accused of Abandoning Ground Forces During War in Lebanon
Israelis Instructed to Leave Sinai
Annan: Cannot Confirm Soldiers Are Alive
Lebanon: IAF jets fly over Beirut, eastern Lebanon
Olmert defends self-appointed members of war probe
Olmert: I hope cease-fire will create new reality
Israel rejects U.N. blockade appeal
Lebanon refuses contact with Israel
Annan: Israel must lift Lebanon blockade
Annan demands Israel lift Gaza closure
Israeli PM hopes for direct contact with Lebanon

Jordan

Jordan Islamist prisoners end hunger strike
Jordan PM visits South Korea for labour talks
Jordan prince warns over Mideast arms race
Jordan parliament OKs terrorism law

Lebanon

Lebanon to compensate bombing victims with USD 33,000 per house
EU commission will pledge USD 54 million at Lebanon
Foreign Media Focus On Israeli Blockade, Play Down Hostage Issue
Annan: We Hope to Double Size of Force
Spanish troops arrive in Beirut on recon mission
Lebanon: IAF jets fly over Beirut, eastern Lebanon
Iranian VP visits Lebanon as aid package takes shape
Brammertz brings probe back to Beirut
Israel rejects U.N. blockade appeal
Lebanon refuses contact with Israel
Annan: Israel must lift Lebanon blockade
Israeli PM hopes for direct contact with Lebanon
Crowd beats up protestors opposed to Turkish force in Lebanon
Italian, French PMs to meet on Lebanon deployment

North Korea

US warship arrives in Japan on N. Korea concerns
Report: North Korean leader might be in China

Pakistan

Protestors block main highway in troubled Pakistani region
Beheaded bodies of two Afghans found in Pakistan tribal area
Protesters block roads in south Pakistan
Pakistani militants decapitate 2 men
Pakistan again detains Kashmiri militant chief

Palestinian Situation

Annan: Lebanon war should divert attention from Palestinian problem
Families of Palestinian prisoners protest in Ramallah
Palestinian president criticizes Hamas government
DF Success Mounts in Gaza Operation
Arab Terrorist: 'IDF Hostage Shalit in Good Health'
IDF Uncovers Terror Tunnel at Karni
Attacks Against IDF Soldiers in Gaza Continue
Damascus Hamas leader: No new Shalit developments
Gaza: IDF finds tunnel to be used in terror attack
IDF kills Palestinian operative in Gaza City
IDF arrests five wanted Palestinians overnight
Annan demands Israel lift Gaza closure
Israeli fire kills six Palestinians in Gaza Strip
Abbas calls for end rocket attacks from Gaza
Abbas' party OKs Hamas unity government

Russia

Russian FM, Hariri discuss Lebanon ceasefire
Iran's atomic chief to visit Russia next week

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia releases 9 Gitmo detainees

Somalia

World donors urge power-sharing deal for Somalia
Five killed, thousands displaced as heavy rains flood Somali capital
Somali Islamists send senior delegation to talks
Somali Islamists mull limiting food aid to boost local production
Somali port gets first use in 11 years

Sudan

Sudan police crack down on protests
U.S. and UK seek vote on U.N. Darfur troops
Sudan president claims West conspiracy
Sudan to send envoy to Washington
Sudan's Beshir to send envoy to meet Bush in Washington

Syria

Previously unknown Syrian group threatens to kidnap Israeli soldiers
Annan to request that Iran and Syria stop transferring arms to Hizbullah
Venezuela Allied with Syria
Damascus Hamas leader: No new Shalit developments
Chavez visits Syria, pledges solidarity against US
Chavez vows to stand by Syria
Chavez says Syria, Venezuela united

Turkey

Explosion in southern Turkish city injures 1
Kurdish splinter group vows to wreak havoc on Turkey
Crowd beats up protestors opposed to Turkish force in Lebanon
Blast in Turkish port wounds one-officials
Turks march to protest Kurdish bombings
Militant Kurds warn of wreaking havoc
Kurdish rebels warn of "hell" after Turkey blasts

UK
British terror suspects appear in court
Three more appear in London court over terror plot
Three terror suspects due to appear in court
U.S. and UK seek vote on U.N. Darfur troops

UN

Israeli FM, UN Chief hope ceasefire deal will evolve into full peace
Annan to request that Iran and Syria stop transferring arms to Hizbullah
Peres says release of kidnapped soldiers is first step towards real truce with Lebanon
Peres, Annan Agree That Hostage Release Is Top Priority
Annan: Cannot Confirm Soldiers Are Alive
Annan: We Hope to Double Size of Force
Annan: Israel must lift Lebanon blockade
UN chief pushes for blockade lift in Israel talks
Annan demands Israel lift Gaza closure
U.N. may hold off on confronting Iran

US

Republicans target 'Islamic fascism'
Teams vie for U.S. border security contract
Americans back anti-terrorism racial profiling: poll
U.S. Navy says officer passed secret Guantanamo data
Ex-Iran President Khatami gets U.S. visa
U.S. wants more access to airline passenger data
Rumsfeld lashes out at Bush's critics
Chertoff seeks more air travelers data
Early Iraq pullout "ruinous" to U.S. security: Cheney
U.S. and UK seek vote on U.N. Darfur troops
Sudan to send envoy to Washington
Chavez visits Syria, pledges solidarity against US
U.S.-led troops kill 18 in Afghanistan

Venezuela

Chavez vows to stand by Syria
Chavez says Syria, Venezuela united
Venezuela Allied with Syria
Chavez visits Syria, pledges solidarity against US
Venezuela's Chavez arrives in Syria
Arab hero' Chavez to visit fellow US-foe Syria

Terrorism

Three more appear in London court over terror plot
Homegrown terror suspects raise concern
Report: China seeks air marshal training
U.S. wants more access to airline passenger data
Jordan parliament OKs terrorism law

Evening News roundup from SwissInfo

2006-08-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

Aug 30, 2006 - 12:08 AM

Kurdish rebels warn of "hell"

By Thomas GroveANTALYA, Turkey (Reuters) - A shadowy Kurdish rebel group threatened on Tuesday to turn Turkey into "hell" after a two-day...

Aug 30, 2006 - 2:23 AM

New Orleans marks Katrina anniversary

By Peter Henderson and Matt DailyNEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - New Orleans residents marched through their battered city on Tuesday, marking the...

Aug 29, 2006 - 11:09 PM

Polygamist sect leader held in Nevada

By Cathy ScottLAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Fugitive polygamist sect leader Warren Steed Jeffs, one of the FBI's 10 most wanted men, was arrested...

Aug 30, 2006 - 12:38 AM

Annan to urge lift of Lebanon blockade

By Dean YatesJERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will urge Israel to lift its air and sea blockade of Lebanon and...

Aug 30, 2006 - 3:23 AM

Storm threat to Florida eases

By Tom BrownMIAMI (Reuters) - The threat Tropical Storm Ernesto posed to Florida diminished on Tuesday as it failed to gain strength over...

Aug 30, 2006 - 3:23 AM

JonBenet killer still unknown

By Dan WhitcombBOULDER, Colo. (Reuters) - Two weeks after the stunning arrest of John Mark Karr for the long-unsolved murder of 6-year-old...

Aug 29, 2006 - 11:53 PM

Vote on U.N. troops for Darfur sought

By Opheera McDoom and Irwin ArieffKHARTOUM/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States and Britain plan to push for a vote on a U.N....

Aug 29, 2006 - 11:09 PM

Ahmadinejad challenges Bush to TV debate

By Parisa HafeziTEHRAN (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday challenged U.S. President George W. Bush to a televised debate...

Aug 30, 2006 - 3:07 AM

Brazil's Lula pledges to help poor in second term

By Ricardo AmaralSAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva promised more government spending and social programs to...

Aug 30, 2006 - 3:37 AM

Wolves return to eastern Germany

By Erik KirschbaumBERLIN (Reuters) - A century after they were wiped out by hunters and a burgeoning population, wolves have returned to...

Aug 29, 2006 - 9:07 PM

Explosion kills 29 petrol scavengers in Iraq

By Imad al-KhozaieNEAR DIWANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - At least 29 people were killed when a blast ripped through scavengers siphoning petrol...

Aug 30, 2006 - 12:38 AM

Donors urge Somalia power-sharing deal

By Simon JohnsonSTOCKHOLM (Reuters) - International donors urged Somalia's interim government and Islamists on Tuesday to strike a...

Aug 29, 2006 - 11:09 PM

Data show one in eight Americans in poverty

By Joanne MorrisonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - In the world's biggest economy, one in eight Americans and almost one in four blacks lived in...

Aug 29, 2006 - 9:23 PM

Ambush and bombs kill 20 in rising Afghan violence

KABUL (Reuters) - U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan killed 18 suspected Taliban, the military said on Tuesday, while two Afghans died in a...

Aug 29, 2006 - 6:39 PM

Italian hostage in Nigeria has been freed -Ansa

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian oil worker kidnapped last week in Nigeria has been freed, a spokeswoman for Italy's foreign ministry said on...

Aug 29, 2006 - 7:25 PM

S.Africa passes controversial mercenaries bill

By Gordon BellCAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa passed an anti-mercenaries law on Tuesday that could bar thousands of its nationals from...

Aug 29, 2006 - 7:24 PM

Israel kills 5 Palestinians, including 3 militants

By Nidal al-MughrabiGAZA (Reuters) - Israeli troops killed five Palestinians and wounded a dozen in attacks on militants in the Gaza Strip...

Aug 29, 2006 - 3:08 PM

Sri Lanka army battles rebels

By Peter AppsCOLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops battled Tamil Tiger rebels on Tuesday in a new offensive, jeopardising the evacuation of...

Aug 29, 2006 - 6:39 PM

Blast kills 3 as violence erupts in Pakistan

By Gul YousafzaiQUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Security forces and gunmen clashed in the capital of Pakistan's Baluchistan province on Tuesday...

Aug 29, 2006 - 6:52 PM

Climate change a threat to development: World Bank

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Climate change may be one of the biggest threats to attempts to cutting poverty in the world's most deprived nations...

Aug 29, 2006 - 5:38 PM

Case against JonBenet suspect collapses

By Dan WhitcombBOULDER, Colo. (Reuters) - John Mark Karr, the schoolteacher who made worldwide headlines by confessing to one of America's...

Aug 29, 2006 - 4:24 PM

New Orleans a tale of two cities

By Peter HendersonNEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Alabama native Sarah Jane Keith, 30, stopped on a desolate street of the New Orleans Lower Ninth...

Aug 29, 2006 - 2:39 PM

Uganda military starts truce with LRA rebels

By Daniel WallisKAMPALA (Reuters) - A truce between the Ugandan army and northern guerrillas notorious for their savagery and use of child...

Aug 29, 2006 - 2:39 PM

Prosecutor seeks death penalty in Libya HIV case

By Salah SarrarTRIPOLI (Reuters) - A Libyan prosecutor demanded the death penalty on Tuesday for five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian...

Aug 29, 2006 - 4:09 PM

Iraqis weigh new burden - fighting flab

By Aseel KamiBAGHDAD (Reuters) - Starved of entertainment in their violence-racked city, many Baghdad residents are turning to food as one...

Aug 29, 2006 - 2:39 PM

Iran's president challenges Bush to TV debate

By Edmund BlairTEHRAN (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad voiced defiance on Tuesday as a deadline neared for Iran to halt work the...

Aug 29, 2006 - 2:53 PM

Iran's president says wants TV debate with Bush

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday proposed holding a live television debate with U.S. President George W....

Aug 29, 2006 - 7:22 AM

Unlit runway may have confused Kentucky pilots

By Steve RobrahnLEXINGTON, Kentucky (Reuters) - The co-pilot who was at the controls of the Comair commuter jet that crashed off the wrong...

Aug 29, 2006 - 2:39 PM

Iran's president says wants TV debate with Bush

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday proposed holding a live television debate with U.S. President George W....

Aug 29, 2006 - 10:23 AM

Israeli air strike on Gaza gunmen wounds 8

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel's air force struck a group of Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, wounding at least eight people...

Aug 29, 2006 - 1:09 PM

Suicide bomber targets NATO convoy in Afghanistan

KABUL (Reuters) - At least one Afghan civilian was killed in a suicide bomb attack on a NATO convoy in the country's volatile south on...

Aug 29, 2006 - 8:09 AM

Police find 10 bodies in Baghdad school yard

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Police found on Tuesday the bodies of 10 men, handcuffed and blindfolded, dumped in the yard of a school in western...

Aug 29, 2006 - 10:53 AM

Venezuela's Chavez says to leave for Syria

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday he would leave for Syria later in the day in a trip likely to...

Aug 29, 2006 - 7:08 AM

Sudan ignores pressure over U.N. troops

By Opheera McDoomKHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan ignored U.S. pressure to accept U.N. troops in Darfur, snubbing Washington's top diplomat on...

Aug 29, 2006 - 8:23 AM

Israeli troops kill two W.Bank gunmen

NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli special forces killed two Palestinian gunmen during a clash in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday,...

Aug 28, 2006 - 8:53 PM

Olmert orders inquiry into war

By Luke BakerJERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced a low-level inquiry into the Lebanon war on Monday,...

They Make a Desert and Call It Victory Part 2

2006-08-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not the only one speculating on this story.

Amir Taheri at the NY Post has written a piece called Nasrallah's Blunder:

August 29, 2006 -- WELL, what do you know: What was presented as a "Great Strategic Divine Victory" only a week ago is now beginning to look more like a costly blunder. And the man who is making the revisionist move is the same who made the original victory claim: Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of the Lebanese branch of Hezbollah.

Worth the read.

Is the defense of liberty worth the cost?

2006-08-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

"Today we are engaged in conflicts that are again testing whether or not our country believes that the defense of liberty is worth the cost," Donald Rumsfeld, 8/39/06

Today, one of the big questions is do we really believe as a nation, a people, a culture, that the defense of liberty worth the cost? Between the press, popular cultural icons, and an attitude that picked up the viewpoint, "Blame America First," it seems hard to know if this is true any more.

I wonder how many of us would stand up and join Patrick Henry in agreement with "Give me liberty or give me death?" Or how many people really acknowledge that there are people out there, willing to kill us not for what we do, or what we as individuals believe, but because we are the infidel.

The forced "conversion" of the two Fox reporters should show us the writing on the wall.

The recent plot by British citizens of Pakistani ethnicity should show us that it has little to do with what you think about the fate of the Palestinians, where you stand about the war in Iraq, or how much you consider what Hezbollah does as justified. You are still the enemy, still counters on a checkerboard where every man, woman and child is fair game. The media may talk like America is the villian, but compared to what these people want to do, to make us chess pieces on their struggle for power and control makes one wonder just what the thinking behind the blame America game is.

The Long War is here, and you are a player whether you want to be or not.

The real question is: do you concede or think that the ideals of liberty are worth standing up for. Until we make up our minds about that, we are truly fair game for those who would exploit us. Patrick Henry once said, "Give me liberty or give death." In reality, we may not have a choice. Death as a culture, or liberty. We will end up with one or the other, even if by not choosing.

They Make a Desert and Call it Victory

2006-08-29T10:45:00.000-07:00

In the last few days we've been hearing talk coming from Nasrallah and Hezbollah saying things like they didn't realize that Israel was going to attack from the simple kidnapping and attack they did to them. Perhaps some real evalation is going on.

After a number of days of crowing about how they had stood up to Israel some things have really become clear:

Hezbollah lost hundreds of fighters, many installations, and many neighborhoods took very bad hits. The infrastructure of the Shiite territory is hurt badly, and there is much destruction, which leads to people being out of work, not having homes, lost goods and lost family members.

Hezbollah was unable to follow up on many of its threats. They never were able to get a rocket or missile down to Tel Aviv. They were not able to wreak havoc by releasing chemical spills through the destruction of plants in Haifa and areas like that. They managed to kill many Arab Israelis while they were at it, though. There were no chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction released. They were only able to kill less than a dozen Israeli tanks, although they tried hard.

Their propaganda machine was uncovered.

They found out that the Sunni/Shiite wall is very tough to penetrate, and that even though Israel is seen as the evil one in the region by many, that wall between Sunni and Shiite was not breached. No holy pan Islamic war was released to save Hezbollah.

Nasrallah has been marked for assassination by the IDF, and still must be very careful about his movements.

He does not have the political juice that Arafat had.

Another telling mark to me seems to be Hezbollah's holding to the cease fire.

To paraphrase Tacitus, they have made a desert and called it Victory. They may claim victory, and they have gained status and face during this, but they still have to live in the squalid mess that South Lebanon and parts of the Bekka have become from their actions. Perhaps, it's even dawned on a few of them this happened with Israel not waging all out war on them, but was holding back.

Lebanon's government may even be strengthened (or at least has a chance to be strengthened) because of their actions, with the military regaining the Shiite areas back as part of the nation, and having it function less as a state within a state.

I do not believe Hezbollah is anywhere near finished as part of the power block in Lebanon, but today it is not the same group as it was in June. Some lessons may be coming home to roost as they paw through the rubble, take stock, and begin the hard lessons of rebuilding.

Or perhaps they will learn no more than Hamas seems to.

Time will tell who is the wiser of the two groups.

Morning News Headlines

2006-08-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

Awaiting reinforcements, UN soldiers on in Lebanon AFP
Annan arrives in Israel urging lifting of Lebanon blockade AFP
Unemployed Palestinians demand welfare AP
Footage may be of missing Israeli airman AP
Annan urges Israel, Hizbollah to end disputes fast Reuters
Annan visits peacekeepers in Lebanon AP
UN chief calls for end to 'humiliating' Lebanese blockade AFP
Prosecutor seeks death penalty in Libya HIV case Reuters
Thousands of Lebanese unable to go home AP -
First wave of Italian troops departs for Lebanon AFP
Cluster bombs lie in wait for Lebanese children Reuters
Unemployed Palestinians demand welfare AP
Italy sends troops to "long, risky" Lebanon mission Reuters - 2 hours, 52 minutes ago
Lebanese father mourns loss of family AP - Tue Aug 29, 7:50 AM ET
Israeli PM under fire for 'fig-leaf' Lebanon war probe AFP - Tue Aug 29, 7:46 AM ET
Nine Palestinians wounded in Israel raid on Gaza AFP - Tue Aug 29, 6:57 AM ET
900 French troops, tanks due in Lebanon mid-September AFP - Tue Aug 29, 6:09 AM ET
Israeli air strike in Gaza wounds eight Reuters - Tue Aug 29, 4:38 AM ET
Ex-Israeli PM Sharon's condition improves AFP - Tue Aug 29, 3:52 AM ET
Sharon out of intensive care Reuters - Tue Aug 29, 2:20 AM ET
UN chief in south Lebanon AFP - Tue Aug 29, 12:29 AM ET

Ynet

IDF: 2 terrorists with antitank missile hit in Gaza
(19:39 , 08.29.06)
Peretz: Leave Lebanon after news 'rules of the game' established
(19:27 , 08.29.06)
IAEA chief says next several weeks crucial in resolving Iran's nuclear issue
(19:13 , 08.29.06)
Sources report 2 Palestinians killed by IDF attacks near Gaza
(19:11 , 08.29.06)
Iranian VP meets senior Hizbullah operative in Beirut
(19:09 , 08.29.06)
Livni: UN must issue additional resolution to prevent Hizbullah rearmament
(18:59 , 08.29.06)
PLO Executive Committee approves national unity document
(18:55 , 08.29.06)
Reservists protesting against PM arrive in J'lem
(18:43 , 08.29.06)
Peres: Won't be another round with Hizbullah
(18:32 , 08.29.06)
Open House: Determined to march on Sept 21st
(18:26 , 08.29.06)
Olmert: Peres – Israel's biggest fundraiser abroad
(18:22 , 08.29.06)
Lebanon hopes donor conference will raise USD 500 million
(18:19 , 08.29.06)
Palestinians: 5 year old wounded from IDF fire in Gaza
(18:18 , 08.29.06)
Palestinians shoot antitank missile at IDF forces in Gaza
(18:13 , 08.29.06)
IDF hits terror cell trying to place explosive charge near Gaza
(17:52 , 08.29.06)
Benny Regev: We'll show Annan the human side of the issue
(17:18 , 08.29.06)
MK Hasson: Number of inquiry commissions won't blur Olmert's responsibility
(17:02 , 08.29.06)
UN Sec-Gen arrives in Israel
(16:51 , 08.29.06)
Gillerman prepares families of kidnapped for meeting with Annan
(16:39 , 08.29.06)
Police won't allow pride parade in J'lem
(16:35 , 08.29.06)
UN: Thousands of Lebanese unable to go home
(16:16 , 08.29.06)
Ahmadinejad: Iran presented framework for talks on nuclear issue
(15:52 , 08.29.06)
Skinheads attack 2 Israelis in Belgrade
(15:47 , 08.29.06)
Level of alert raised in Binyamin for fear of terror attack
(15:33 , 08.29.06)
Iranian president challenges Bush to televised debate
(15:27 , 08.29.06)
Shin Bet chief: North Samaria turned into 'Islamic Jihad land'
(14:57 , 08.29.06)
Spanish defense minister orders troops to prepare for Lebanon mission
(14:46 , 08.29.06)
PMO: We were amazed to hear state comptroller's grievances in media
(14:31 , 08.29.06)

Arutz Sheva

19:40 Aug-29-06
Spain, Turkey to Bolster International Force in Lebanon

19:20 Aug-29-06
Housing Starts Up in 2006

18:40 Aug-29-06
Two PA Terrorists Hit by IDF Fire

18:20 Aug-29-06
IDF Force Targeted in Anti-Tank Missile Attack

18:11 Aug-29-06
Bitter Exchange Between PMO and Comptroller Continues

17:54 Aug-29-06
2nd Quarter Increase in Unemployment Figures

17:28 Aug-29-06
Police: No Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade Before Rosh HaShanah

16:44 Aug-29-06
UN: 35,000 Refugees Still in Beirut Area

16:06 Aug-29-06
Shekel Strengthens Against Dollar, Euro

16:01 Aug-29-06
Update: All Entrances to Jerusalem Under Heavy Protection

15:48 Aug-29-06
MK Eldad Submits Motion for Knesset Inquiry

15:37 Aug-29-06
Terror Alert in Binyamin Region, Jerusalem

15:15 Aug-29-06
PM´s Office "Shocked" Over State Comptroller´s Refusal to Investigate

15:00 Aug-29-06
Now On Air: The Yishai Fleisher & Alex Traiman Show

14:45 Aug-29-06
Egypt Censors Film About Mossad Plot to Capture Nasrallah

14:31 Aug-29-06
Gush Etzion Action C'tee to Respond Friday to Attack on Jewish Shepherds

14:22 Aug-29-06
3 Anti-Tank Missiles Fired at IDF Forces

14:16 Aug-29-06
Intelligence Chief Warns of Katyusha Missiles Already in Gaza

13:52 Aug-29-06
137 Arabs in Israel Illegally Arrested in B'nei Brak Area

13:33 Aug-29-06
Web Site Documents Names of Wounded For Worldwide Prayers

13:17 Aug-29-06
Israeli-Arab Arms Stealing Network Busted

13:17 Aug-29-06
Sharansky: Now We Can't Say We Weren't Warned

12:58 Aug-29-06
State Comptroller: Olmert Won´t Instruct Me What to Investigate

12:47 Aug-29-06
Intelligence Chief: Army Having Trouble Maintaining Control in N. Samaria Following Withdrawal

12:34 Aug-29-06
IDF Force Engages Terrorists in Northern Gaza

12:12 Aug-29-06
Shas Opposes State Commission of Inquiry

11:55 Aug-29-06
Police Special Forces Kill Wanted Terrorist in Ramallah

11:37 Aug-29-06
Siren Sounds in Haifa, Police Say Technical Malfunction

11:33 Aug-29-06
Court Rules in Defense of Nes Ziona Nature Preserve Against Developers

11:11 Aug-29-06
Interior Minister Says Arab Municipal Officials Abandoned Towns During War

10:50 Aug-29-06
Sharon´s Doctors Say His Condition Improved

10:34 Aug-29-06
Two Police Injured in Shechem Gunfight

10:10 Aug-29-06
Terrorists Behind Kedumim Bombing Killed in Shechem

Fatah: Prisoner's Document to help unity gov't
[ 29/08 19:19 - MIDDLE EAST ]

Rev. Jesse Jackson says Israeli soldiers alive
[ 29/08 18:10 - INTERNATIONAL ]

Arab papers slam Nasrallah, dub him irresponsible
[ 29/08 17:53 updated 19:14 - MIDDLE EAST ]

Police and IDF boost forces in Jerusalem area
[ 29/08 17:26 updated 18:07 - ISRAEL ]

FM Livni says Hizbullah weakened by conflict
[ 29/08 16:52 - INTERNATIONAL ]

Police bar Gay Parade planned days before new year
[ 29/08 16:41 - ISRAEL ]

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrives in Israel
[ 29/08 16:32 updated 17:11 - ISRAEL ]

Palestinian finance minister's detention extended
[ 29/08 16:22 updated 16:23 - MIDDLE EAST ]

French troops to arrive in Lebanon in mid-Sept.
[ 29/08 16:08 updated 16:09 - MIDDLE EAST ]

Police evacuate 4 J'lem houses due to nearby fire
[ 29/08 15:58 - ISRAEL ]

UN: Thousands of Lebanese unable to go home
[ 29/08 15:55 - MIDDLE EAST ]

Iranian VP lands in Beirut for `solidarity' visit
[ 29/08 15:39 - MIDDLE EAST ]

Police raise alert level in J'lem, Binyamin area
[ 29/08 15:35 - ISRAEL ]

Ahmadinejad slams UN veto right, wants Bush debate
[ 29/08 15:27 - MIDDLE EAST ]

Diskin: Since pullout, Samaria tough to control
[ 29/08 15:21 updated 15:37 - ISRAEL ]

PMO 'amazed' at comptroller's public complaints
[ 29/08 15:12 - ISRAEL ]

Gaza: Palestinians fire 3 anti-tank rockets at IDF
[ 29/08 14:23 - ISRAEL ]

Female soldier hit by Palestinian car in Hebron
[ 29/08 14:16 - ISRAEL ]

Olmert: I'm free, but Nasrallah is still hiding
[ 29/08 13:24 - ISRAEL ]

Diskin: IDF refused help from Shin Bet during war
[ 29/08 12:40 - ISRAEL ]

MKs: Hanegbi stopping motion against PM's choice
[ 29/08 12:38 - ISRAEL ]

Iran invites int'l groups to bid on nuclear plants
[ 29/08 12:34 updated 13:57 - MIDDLE EAST ]

Annan visits UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon
[ 29/08 12:29 - INTERNATIONAL ]

David Ivri named 5th member of inquiry commission
[ 29/08 12:12 updated 18:51 - ISRAEL ]

IDF troops uncover weapons stockpile in s. Lebanon
[ 29/08 12:02 - ISRAEL ]

D'Alema: Hizbullah, Hamas not purely terror groups
[ 29/08 11:43 - ISRAEL ]

Earthquake shakes Greece's western islands
[ 29/08 11:18 - INTERNATIONAL ]

Report: IAF targets armed cell in Gaza
[ 29/08 11:11 - ISRAEL ]

Some 300 jobless Palestinians protest in Gaza
[ 29/08 11:08 - MIDDLE EAST ]

Warning siren sounds accidentally in Haifa
[ 29/08 10:42 - ISRAEL ]

Livni urges other nations to pressure Saniora
[ 29/08 10:32 - INTERNATIONAL ]

Lebanon Daily Star

» OIC boss stresses need to preserve Lebanese unity

» Olmert appoints panel to probe war debacle

» Hizbullah evacuates posts as Lebanese Army moves in

» Iran dismisses threat of new US sanctions

» Chirac warns of more fighting if lasting solution isn't found

» Sudanese president refuses to meet US envoy seeking Darfur deal

Evening News Roundup (from Israel, Lebanon, Swiss Info, Iran, Pakistan

2006-08-28T17:02:00.000-07:00

Ynet

Venezuela fines two US oil services companies, forces temporary closure of one
(00:49 , 08.29.06)
UN agency says Gaza facing food crisis under Israeli offensive
(23:49 , 08.28.06)
Ministers Pines-Paz, Cabel oppose Olmert’s proposed commissions
(23:24 , 08.28.06)
Terrorist killed in Ramallah behind murder of Israeli in 2004
(23:03 , 08.28.06)
U.S. State Department: surprised by Nasrallah's statement on hostage-taking
(22:39 , 08.28.06)
Palestinians: IDF kills activist al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades activist in Ramallah
(22:23 , 08.28.06)
U.S. Says Khatami will get visa to visit U.S.
(22:22 , 08.28.06)
Palestinians: IDF injures wanted Palestinian in Ramallah
(22:03 , 08.28.06)
Muslim states urged to send 7,000 troops to Lebanon
(22:02 , 08.28.06)
Likud: Unreasonable that PM will appoint commission to investigate him
(21:58 , 08.28.06)
Israel Our Home: We'll act to set up official commission of inquiry
(21:51 , 08.28.06)
Rev. Jesse Jackson discusses prisoner exchange with Hamas leader
(21:09 , 08.28.06)
Lebanon's Aoun to cabinet: Resign in peace or else
(21:07 , 08.28.06)
Soldier injured from anti-tank missile in Gaza
(21:06 , 08.28.06)
MK Yatom: Ministers must reject Olmert’s proposal
(21:02 , 08.28.06)
MK responses: Left and right demand bash gov’t commission of inquiry
(20:46 , 08.28.06)
PM: 2 inquiry committees on Lebanon war
(20:25 , 08.28.06)
Video of Ron Arad apparently handed over by Shiite party
(20:18 , 08.28.06)
Olmert: State commission of inquiry – not what the nation needs
(20:14 , 08.28.06)
PM: I promise you- we’ll bring the soldiers home
(20:07 , 08.28.06)

Arutz

14:30 Aug-28-06
Hizbullah Raised Money in Lebanon for Weapons

14:12 Aug-28-06
Health Ministry Fears Terrorist Plot Against Hospitals

14:01 Aug-28-06
Interior Minister Bar-On Slams Northern Arab Leaders

13:48 Aug-28-06
Hizbullah Al Manar Budget More Than Israel´s PR Outlay

13:35 Aug-28-06
Canadian Minister: Hizbullah Like Nazi Party

13:12 Aug-28-06
Annan Arrives in Beirut

13:05 Aug-28-06
Anti-Outpost Attorney Labels Residents 'Criminals'

12:55 Aug-28-06
Report: Hizbullah Retreating From Sheeba Farms Border

12:38 Aug-28-06
Uncertain Knesset Support for Gov't Inquiry

12:27 Aug-28-06
New Karni Crossing Plan In Exchange for Release of Shalit

12:06 Aug-28-06
Hamas Terrorists Kill Arab Driver

11:57 Aug-28-06
Annan On Way To Lebanon, Syria and Iran

11:43 Aug-28-06
No Guards For 700 Schools and Kindergartens

11:24 Aug-28-06
Lebanese Minister: ´France A Friend of Hizbullah´

11:02 Aug-28-06
Finance Committee Chairman Blocks Budget Vote

10:58 Aug-28-06
More Labor Criticism of Government

10:44 Aug-28-06
Lebanon Demands Fatah Give Up Arms

10:23 Aug-28-06
MK Shalom: EU Worried Over Price of Oil More than 'Price of Life'

10:02 Aug-28-06
Labor Ganging Up On Peretz

09:52 Aug-28-06
Reservists Begin March, Demand State Probe on War

09:35 Aug-28-06
Report: Freeing Fox News Reporters Harms Shalit's Chances

09:20 Aug-28-06
Israel Wants Friendly Muslim Nations in UNIFIL

09:04 Aug-28-06
IDF Holding Nine Positions in Southern Lebanon

08:52 Aug-28-06
Olmert Denies Comptroller´s Charges

08:40 Aug-28-06
6 Suspects in Custody as a Result of Counter-Terror Measures

08:16 Aug-28-06
IDF Kills Four Hamas Terrorists

08:08 Aug-28-06
Budget Cuts Expected to Pass Finance Committee

07:46 Aug-28-06
Shalit’s 20th Birthday

07:19 Aug-28-06
Soldiers Uninjured in Shooting Attacks

06:59 Aug-28-06
Olmert Accused of Political Appointments

Wounded Palestinian taken to Israel for treatment
[ 29/08 02:13 - ISRAEL ]

500,000 pack west London for Notting Hill Carnival
[ 29/08 01:10 - INTERNATIONAL ]

Rumsfeld: terrorists 'manipulating the media'
[ 29/08 01:02 - INTERNATIONAL ]

13-year-old girl falls from 4th floor window
[ 29/08 00:57 - ISRAEL ]

Oil drops as Ernesto expected to miss Gulf fields
[ 29/08 00:41 - INTERNATIONAL ]

US reaffirms pursuit of sanctions on Iran
[ 29/08 00:33 - MIDDLE EAST ]

Israel's Pe'er cruises into 2nd round of US Open
[ 28/08 23:42 updated 23:42 - SPORTS ]

State Dpt. surprised by Nasrallah's comments
[ 28/08 22:51 - INTERNATIONAL ]

IDF soldier lightly wounded by anti-tank rocket
[ 28/08 22:34 - ISRAEL ]

IDF troops kill Aksa terrorist in West Bank
[ 28/08 22:16 updated 23:10 - ISRAEL ]

World's oldest woman dies at 116
[ 28/08 21:37 - INTERNATIONAL ]

Arad's identity in LBC video confirmed by family
[ 28/08 20:24 - ISRAEL ]

Olmert compares war in Lebanon to Six-Day War
[ 28/08 19:56 - ISRAEL ]

Lebanese MP Jumblatt promises to fight Syria
[ 28/08 19:12 - MIDDLE EAST ]

Italy: Hizbullah banners outrage peace marchers
[ 28/08 18:41 - INTERNATIONAL ]

Lebanese station to show footage of MIA Arad
[ 28/08 18:33 updated 18:44 - MIDDLE EAST ]

4 Israelis lightly hurt in Antalya blast
[ 28/08 17:48 updated 19:50 - INTERNATIONAL ]

NASA scrubs Tues. launch due to hurricane Ernesto
[ 28/08 17:18 - INTERNATIONAL ]

J'lem gay parade to be held on September 21
[ 28/08 17:00 - ISRAEL ]

Turkey decides to send peacekeepers to Lebanon
[ 28/08 16:49 - MIDDLE EAST ]

Danish lawmaker: Detain Livni for war crimes
[ 28/08 16:54 - INTERNATIONAL ]

Ahmandinejad claims allies invented the Holocaust
[ 28/08 16:39 - IRAN ]

IDF forces kill Palestinian civilian in Jenin
[ 28/08 16:29 - ISRAEL ]

Saudi Arabia beheads guards for drug trafficking
[ 28/08 15:53 - MIDDLE EAST ]

IDF arrests senior Tanzim fugitive in Jericho
[ 28/08 15:44 - ISRAEL ]

Father held for turning 8-year-old into sex slave
[ 28/08 14:56 - ISRAEL ]

Chirac calls on Israel to lift Lebanon blockade
[ 28/08 13:40 - INTERNATIONAL ]

Spain may send up to 1,000 troops to Lebanon
[ 28/08 13:38 - INTERNATIONAL ]

Annan arrives in Beirut for talks on cease-fire
[ 28/08 13:05 - MIDDLE EAST ]

Shalit family holds birthday party at Kerem Shalom
[ 28/08 12:53 - ISRAEL ]

PM to meet with ministers over inquiry commission
[ 28/08 12:33 - ISRAEL ]

Germany: Syria must stop sending arms to Hizbullah
[ 28/08 12:29 - INTERNATIONAL ]

Int'l force may deploy at Gaza's Karni Crossing
[ 28/08 11:39 - ISRAEL ]

Lebanon Daily Star

» OIC boss stresses need to preserve Lebanese unity

» Olmert appoints panel to probe war debacle

» Hizbullah evacuates posts as Lebanese Army moves in

» Iran dismisses threat of new US sanctions

» Chirac warns of more fighting if lasting solution isn't found

» Sudanese president refuses to meet US envoy seeking Darfur deal

News from Swiss Info:

Aug 28, 2006 - 8:53 PM

Olmert orders inquiry into war

By Luke BakerJERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced a low-level inquiry into the Lebanon war on Monday,...

Aug 29, 2006 - 1:08 AM

Dozens killed in fierce Iraqi clashes

By Imad al-KhozaieDIWANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - At least 20 Iraqi soldiers were killed in street fighting with Shi'ite militiamen in the town...

Aug 28, 2006 - 6:40 PM

Annan urges handover of soldiers

By Jonathan WrightBEIRUT (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Monday he wanted the two Israeli soldiers whose capture by...

Aug 29, 2006 - 12:52 AM

Calderon near victory as Mexican court backs vote

By Chris Aspin and Kieran MurrayMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's top electoral court threw out allegations of massive fraud in last month's...

Aug 29, 2006 - 12:37 AM

Unlit runway may have confused Kentucky plane's pilots

By Steve RobrahnLEXINGTON, Kentucky (Reuters) - The pilots of a commuter jet who turned onto the wrong runway may have been confused by an...

Aug 28, 2006 - 5:53 PM

Dozens killed in Iraq clashes

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Fifty gunmen and 20 Iraqi soldiers have been killed in clashes in the town of Diwaniya south of Baghdad, the Ministry of...

Aug 28, 2006 - 8:53 PM

Iran dismisses U.S. threat of sanctions coalition

By Hossein JassebTEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday a U.S. threat to form an independent coalition to impose sanctions if the U.N....

Aug 29, 2006 - 12:37 AM

Ernesto douses Cuba en route to Florida

By Anthony BoadleHAVANA (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Ernesto drenched eastern Cuba on Monday and headed for the Florida Straits, where it...

Aug 28, 2006 - 10:38 PM

Sudan ignores pressure over U.N. troops for Darfur

By Opheera McDoomKHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan ignored U.S. pressure to accept U.N. troops in Darfur, snubbing Washington's top diplomat on...

Aug 28, 2006 - 10:22 PM

World's oldest person dies at 116

By Alonso SotoQUITO, Ecuador (Reuters) - The world's oldest person, a 116-year-old Ecuadorean woman who drank donkey milk for health, died...

Aug 28, 2006 - 2:08 PM

Afghan market blast kills 17

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suspected suicide bomber killed at least 17 people and wounded almost 50 in a crowded bazaar in...

Aug 28, 2006 - 7:08 PM

Biloxi struggles to rebound

By Matt DailyBILOXI, Mississippi (Reuters) - The clean-up is mostly complete and business is brisk at the beachfront casinos, but a year...

Aug 28, 2006 - 6:08 PM

Guyanese head to polls

By Patrick MarkeyGEORGETOWN, Guyana (Reuters) - Braving bursts of tropical rain, Guyanese voted on Monday in the former British colony's...

Aug 28, 2006 - 2:37 PM

Austrian girl mourns captor's suicide

By Alexandra ZawadilVIENNA (Reuters) - An Austrian girl traumatised by an eight-year kidnap ordeal said in her first public statement on...

Aug 28, 2006 - 5:08 PM

Fresh trouble in Pakistan's Baluchistan over killing

By Gul YousafzaiQUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Violence flared in Pakistan's turbulent Baluchistan province on Monday and at least one person...

Aug 28, 2006 - 5:24 PM

Lebanon holds another suspect in Germany bomb plot

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese authorities on Monday arrested another suspect believed to be involved in a failed attempt to detonate bombs on...

Aug 28, 2006 - 4:23 PM

Deadly floods in India turn desert area into "sea"

JAIPUR, India (Reuters) - Monsoon rains and flooding have killed at least 130 people in India's western state of Rajasthan, officials said...

Aug 28, 2006 - 12:52 PM

Israeli strike kills 4 Palestinians

By Nidal al-MughrabiGAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed two members of a Hamas-led security force and two presidential guards in clashes...

Aug 28, 2006 - 2:53 PM

Storm grounds U.S. space shuttle

By Irene KlotzCAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA on Monday said it plans to pull the space shuttle Atlantis off its seaside Florida...

Aug 28, 2006 - 3:24 PM

CORRECTED-Somali Islamists send senior delegation to talks

Corrects source in third paragraph to an Islamist delegate instead of head of Sudan's foreign officeMOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's powerful...

Aug 28, 2006 - 3:24 PM

Rebels say Sri Lanka air raids kill 20 civilians

By Peter AppsCOLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers said at least 20 civilians were killed and 26 wounded in air force raids on Monday...

Aug 28, 2006 - 3:08 PM

S.Lanka rebels say 20 civilians killed by air force

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels said at least 20 civilians were killed and 26 wounded in air force raids on Monday in the...

Aug 28, 2006 - 1:39 PM

Saudi "corrects" ideas of 700 Qaeda sympathisers

By Andrew HammondRIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has released over 700 suspected militants after clerics "corrected" their thinking in a...

Aug 28, 2006 - 3:08 PM

Hippie town under pressure in Copenhagen

By Rasmus Nord JorgensenCOPENHAGEN (Reuters) - "Do you want hash?" the young man asks passers-by on Pusher Street, once a thriving open-air...

Aug 28, 2006 - 1:39 PM

U.N. ready for return of Ugandan rebel captives

By Daniel WallisKAMPALA (Reuters) - The United Nations and aid workers prepared on Monday to receive hundreds of children who are supposed...

Aug 28, 2006 - 1:22 PM

"Mother" of Nepal's anti-monarchy protests dead

By Gopal SharmaKATHMANDU (Reuters) - The face of Nepal's popular anti-monarchy protests -- a diminutive, 88-year-old village woman who...

Aug 28, 2006 - 12:39 PM

Sri Lanka troops move on rebel-held villages in east

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops moved forward towards Tamil Tiger territory in the northeast, trying to seize villages near a...

Aug 28, 2006 - 12:39 PM

Kenyan police kill 17 suspected Ethiopian bandits

NYERI, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyan police battled 300 suspected Ethiopian gunmen, killing 17 after a cross-border raid in Kenya's remote and...

Aug 28, 2006 - 3:07 AM

Kentucky plane crash kills 49

By Robert AdamsLEXINGTON, Kentucky (Reuters) - A Comair jet crashed and burnt in a Kentucky pasture on Sunday after a failed takeoff on a...

Aug 28, 2006 - 10:08 AM

Israel's Olmert hit by new scandal

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's top government watchdog raised new suspicions of impropriety by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in excerpts of a...

Aug 28, 2006 - 10:23 AM

Judges to settle Mexico's bitter presidential vote

By Kieran MurrayMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's electoral court on Monday will settle a fierce legal battle over last month's disputed...

News from Fars News Agency

Iranian foreign ministry:
London meeting statement may not deter Iran from pursuing its legal rights TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian foreign ministry stressed that the imperative tone of the 5+1 meeting in London is in clear violation of the technical and legal independency of the Agency and is detrimental to the rights of the member states, the Board of Governors, and even the other members of the UN Security Council.

Detainee dies at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- A 62-year-old prisoner at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison died of an apparent heart attack, the U.S. military said on Friday.

Evaluation of 24 Days of Zionists' Invasion of Lebanon

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- An observation of war incidents and an assessment of the political, social and economic status of Lebanon and Israel as well as the international developments during the last... (ادامه)

Supreme Leader Praises Government's Performance
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei lauded Ahmadinejad's administration for the relentless efforts it has made to provide service for the public, stressing that economic justice should be the center of all government's activities and orientations. ( 19:19:18 - 2006/08/28)

Full Text of Pres. Ahmadinejad's Letter to German Chancellor
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently forwarded a letter to the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. ( 18:03:08 - 2006/08/28)

Iranian, Afghan DMs Issue Joint Statement
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian and Afghan Defense Ministers stressed the need for the formation of a joint commission to specify the fields proper for mutual cooperation by the two countries. ( 17:11:21 - 2006/08/28)

War Games to Be Continued by Air Force
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Spokesman of Iran's extensive war games codenamed 'Blow of Zolfaqar' Admiral Habib Sayyari said that the maneuvers of the Iranian army would soon be continued in the form of special operations by the air force. ( 17:09:02 - 2006/08/28)

Government Spokesman:
US Not Qualified for UNSC Membership
TERHAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Government Spokesman condemned the United States' bullying attitude towards world community and UN Security Council, and called on the UNSC to prove that it is not under the hegemony of Washington. ( 15:39:22 - 2006/08/28)

Lebanese Resist Disarmament of Hezbollah
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Representative of Hezbollah Movement in Tehran said that both Lebanese government and nation are strongly opposed to the disarmament of the Shiite group. ( 15:14:04 - 2006/08/28)

Afghanistan Wishes Eternal Bonds with Iran
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak expressed hope that Kabul's consolidated, cordial ties with Tehran would continue forever. ( 19:15:56 - 2006/08/27)

Khomeini Calls for Enhanced Solidarity of Lebanese
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, the late Imam Khomeini, said enhanced solidarity of different Lebanese groups would serve interests of the entire region. ( 18:16:33 - 2006/08/27)

FM Spokesman:
Arak Heavy Water Plant Established for Peaceful Purposes
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi stressed that establishment of Arak Heavy Water Plant comes in full compliance with international rules and regulations, saying that the product of the nuclear facility is used for peaceful purposes. ( 17:07:08 - 2006/08/27)

Iran Tests Super Modern Missile Successfully
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian navy Sunday tested a super modern, smart, long-range missile named 'Thaqeb' successfully. ( 15:09:16 - 2006/08/27)

Annan Due in Iran
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi announced that the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is due to visit Iran on Saturday. ( 10:49:12 - 2006/08/27)

Submarines to Join 'Blow of Zolfaqar' War Games
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Spokesman of Iran's extensive naval maneuvers codenamed 'Blow of Zolfaqar' on Sunday said that the next stage of the war games comprises operations by the Iranian submarines. ( 10:38:21 - 2006/08/27)

Mottaki:
US Misusing Democracy for Imposing Policies
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that the US aggrandizes such deceitful notions as democracy and human rights so as to impose its hegemonic policies. ( 19:07:50 - 2006/08/26)

FM Meets Outgoing Belgian Ambassador
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki here on Saturday met with the outgoing Belgian Ambassador to Tehran. ( 18:58:05 - 2006/08/26)

News from Pak Tribune

No foreign country has any rights to comment on Bugti’s death: Pak

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday strongly protested and cautioned any foreign country against commenting on the death of renegade Balochi leader Akbar Khan Bugti.

The Long War

2006-08-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

From Wikipedia:

The Long War is a name for the United States' War on Terrorism. While President George W. Bush has referred to "a long war", others in the administration have referred to it as "the Long War", thus putting the conflict, at least terminologically, on the same level as the 50-year Cold War.

In 2004, U.S. Army General John Abizaid, the Central Command chief who oversees military operations in the Middle East, began using it to refer to the struggle against al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremist groups.

In April 2005, James Jay Carafano, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, co-published a book titled Winning the Long War: Lessons from the Cold War for Defeating Terrorism and Preserving Freedom.

In September 2005, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Richard Myers, used it during his final news conference to say that political and economic measures, not just military ones, would be needed.

It appears to have become a Bush Administration policy to refer to the "Long War." U.S. President George W. Bush himself first used the new name in his 2006 State of the Union speech: "Our own generation is in a long war against a determined enemy."

The 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review Report (QDRR) of the U.S. Department of Defense headlines the section on the war's longterm goals with "Fighting The Long War". The report's preface starts with the phrase: "The United States is a nation engaged in what will be a long war."

The notion of a "long war" on terrorism

Upon the release of the 2006 QDRR, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld reframed the war on terrorism as "a generational conflict akin to the Cold War" that might last decades. The report seeks to address the major security challenges of the next 20 years, emphasizing profound changes to the U.S. military to make it more flexible and more suited to engage in unconventional and asymmetric warfare.

A Guardian article states that 'the report exposes the sheer ambition of the US attempt to mastermind global security'. "The US will work to ensure that all major and emerging powers are integrated as constructive actors and stakeholders into the international system. It will also seek to ensure that no foreign power can dictate the terms of regional or global security."'[1]

The 2006 QDRR identifies four key areas:

Defeating terrorist networks
Defending the homeland in depth
Shaping the choices of countries at strategic crossroads
Preventing hostile states and non-state actors from acquiring or using weapons of mass destruction [2]

I've been hearing this more and more lately, and it is a better descriptor, I think than the War on Terror, which has always seemed to me the type of thing you would call trying to put down a local insurgency group.

But this is different. What is going on is multi-level, multi-national, confessional and idealogically based, that uses the whole world as its battlefield, all humans as potential participants, even when they consider themselves non-combatants. It is a struggle between a certain view of Islam and the West, a struggle between Sunni and Shia, a struggle at times between governments and their citizens, often involving religious ideology and corruption, cultural wars within the West as well as the East. And in the long run, it will leave none of us untouched.

Long war, I suspect, indeed.

Will we continue to fight the 21st Century's Wars with 20th Century concepts?

2006-08-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

Dan Gordon wrote:

Hezb’allah is not your father’s terrorist organization. This is not a group of loosely affiliated cells of would-be hijackers or suicide bombers. Hezb’allah is a terrorist army, trained like an army, organized like an army, funded and equipped like an army, with one glaring difference. The main use of its arsenal was terror aimed at Israel’s civilian population while hiding behind Lebanon’s civilian population. Its intent was to cause maximum civilian casualties amongst both. This was not by accident. This was by design.

This is the world we are now facing: militias, armies, military groups that are not organized along national lines, but are paramilitary, often focused along religious lines, that sometimes, and often do transcend national boundaries. In Iraq, for instance, and in Afghanistan during the Taliban period, these groups were composed of people who came together for training, but were often from various countries: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and others. Their binding has been faith traditions. Sunni joining groups that ally with Al Qada. In Lebanon, the Shiites backed Hezbollah, which was funded by Syria and Iran, in a sort of Shia triangle.

We can get into situations where it's not the government of one country at war with another, but a militia within that country at war with another group or even nation. This was the situation in Lebanon when the war between Hezbollah and Israel broke out.

The current rules of war don't really cover these situations. And those rules often cripple nations who stand up to the bullying of militias. When militias break the regular rules and position themselves deeply within a civilian population, so that that population is horribly impacted when hostilities break out, there is little redress, or even outcry yet. But when countries go for these targets, the outcry is outrageously loud.

But the truth is, because of the way we think about warfare, we are giving a great tool to these paramilitary groups. And this edge will hurt all of Western Civilization unless we realize and deal with the modern reality.

They are counting on our outrage. They set it up, they sometimes stage photos to make it look worse than it was, and still we take the bait.

Are we that haunted by the ghosts of our ancestors that we cannot see the reality for what it is?

Wings and Boots

2006-08-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

"The mistake in this war was the notion that we could win it through air power alone,” Ben-Eliezer said. “Halutz is the greatest Air Force commander we have ever had, but he made a mistake in this war and he is awful." Arutz Sheva, 8/28/06

Now this is a lesson that evidently has to be repeated painfully time and time again, military by military. First, it was the dream that artillary would win the day. This was the dream at the Battle of the Somme, but it proved fleeting, as the men they sent over the top were massacred. In WWII and in Vietnam we used huge amounts of air delivered munitions, and still they could only weaken an enemy, but not destroy him. In fact, the experience in London and in various places in Vietnam should tell us that bombing often steels a population's desire to resist even more.

The only thing that wins a war is people on the ground...tanks and infantry. America had to learn this lesson, as much as they keep wishing it were otherwise. But American style Shock and Awe only works as a softening up. Boots on the ground are still needed to win.

Nations that let their air force generals convince themselves otherwise will always have a hard lesson to learn in the follow up. Wings prepare. Boots bring victory.

Morning News Roundup

2006-08-28T05:01:00.000-07:00

Ynet

Senior Tanzim official arrested in Jericho
(14:36 , 08.28.06)
Palestinians: Boy killed by dud in Gaza
(14:34 , 08.28.06)
MK Eldad to summon Olmert before Knesset lobby against corruption
(14:22 , 08.28.06)
EU president Finland says doing all to secure release of Israeli soldiers
(14:13 , 08.28.06)
Dichter: Hizbullah is division in Iranian army
(13:48 , 08.28.06)
Livni says Lebanon settlement depends on soldiers' return
(13:30 , 08.28.06)
Chirac: Middle East peace process must be revived
(13:28 , 08.28.06)
World Pride Parade to take place September 21
(13:03 , 08.28.06)
Human rights organizations to High Court: open passage to Gaza
(12:59 , 08.28.06)
Member of Nahariya municipality slams interior minister
(12:54 , 08.28.06)
MK Ran Cohen: Olmert disregarded public, and now public will disregard him
(12:39 , 08.28.06)
Lebanese army to reinforce forces along Syrian border
(12:31 , 08.28.06)
Iran not concerned about UN deadline over disputed nuclear program
(12:04 , 08.28.06)
House Committee asks Attorney General's opinion on powers of president
(12:01 , 08.28.06)
Italian government to vote on Lebanon peacekeeping contingent

JP

Chirac calls on Israel to lift Lebanon blockade
[ 28/08 13:40 - INTERNATIONAL ]

Spain may send up to 1,000 troops to Lebanon
[ 28/08 13:38 - INTERNATIONAL ]

Annan arrives in Beirut for talks on cease-fire
[ 28/08 13:05 - MIDDLE EAST ]

Shalit family holds birthday party at Kerem Shalom
[ 28/08 12:53 - ISRAEL ]

PM to meet with ministers over inquiry commission
[ 28/08 12:33 - ISRAEL ]

Germany: Syria must stop sending arms to Hizbullah
[ 28/08 12:29 - INTERNATIONAL ]

Int'l force may deploy at Gaza's Karni Crossing
[ 28/08 11:39 - ISRAEL ]

Hizbullah dismantles 14 outposts near Shaba Farms
[ 28/08 11:25 updated 11:37 - MIDDLE EAST ]

Another 14 killed in Baghdad suicide bombing
[ 28/08 10:55 - MIDDLE EAST ]

Hamas force kills Palestinian at Gaza roadblock
[ 28/08 10:07 - MIDDLE EAST ]

Germany may negotiate for release of IDF soldiers
[ 28/08 09:59 - INTERNATIONAL ]

Arutz Sheva

14:30 Aug-28-06
Hizbullah Raised Money in Lebanon for Weapons

14:12 Aug-28-06
Health Ministry Fears Terrorist Plot Against Hospitals

14:01 Aug-28-06
Interior Minister Bar-On Slams Northern Arab Leaders

13:48 Aug-28-06
Hizbullah Al Manar Budget More Than Israel´s PR Outlay

13:35 Aug-28-06
Canadian Minister: Hizbullah Like Nazi Party

13:12 Aug-28-06
Annan Arrives in Beirut

13:05 Aug-28-06
Anti-Outpost Attorney Labels Residents 'Criminals'

12:55 Aug-28-06
Report: Hizbullah Retreating From Sheeba Farms Border

12:38 Aug-28-06
Uncertain Knesset Support for Gov't Inquiry

12:27 Aug-28-06
New Karni Crossing Plan In Exchange for Release of Shalit

12:06 Aug-28-06
Hamas Terrorists Kill Arab Driver

11:57 Aug-28-06
Annan On Way To Lebanon, Syria and Iran

Hate Amid the Ruins

2006-08-27T19:52:00.000-07:00

In the world of the Jihadis, not all hate is saved for Israel, the US, or the West. Some is reserved for those Islamic sects one disagrees with, particularly along the Sunni/Shia split. Beyond the various factions fighting in Iraq, a good reminder of this came out recently in an speech on a pro-Al Qada website reportedly given by Sheikh Abu Abdul Rahman. In it, he refers to the "infidel Hezbollah" and the "most corrupted regimes of Syria and Iran."

Lest we forget, part of the unrest that has gone on in Iraq has long been a Sunni (represented by the Saddam-controlled Baathists) and various Shia groups, and that much of the in-fighting that happened in Fallujah and other places was augmented by foreign Sunnis who had come to fight the infidel, and very often that infidel was not the US forces, but the Shia majority. In Lebanon, there is a tricky balance of power between the various Christian groups, the Sunnis, the Shias (of whom Hezbollah is the most important militarized face) and Druzes.

The jihadists in each tradition dream of reestablishing a Caliphate to rule all of the Islamic world, but there is a struggle within the larger Islam to say who will be the rulers. Iran dreams of earlier Persian empires. The Sunnis long for their own.

Within this then, watch and see as the internal war between the two groups heats up from time to time. Iran has been in the news with their reaching for nuclear power and their backing of Hezbollah. But those Sunni forces allied with Al Qada and similar groups are not merely going to roll over either, as the recent Pakistani based bomb plot in Britain should remind us.

Yes, there is hatred for Israel which all these groups use as a rallying call. But there is plenty of hatred left over for each other, and when the occasions allow for it, it will be well demonstrated.

Ghost Dancing

2006-08-27T11:58:00.000-07:00

Shelby Steel has written an essay that is something we should read and think about. A contemplation of the cultural dilemna facing us worth reading slowly and carefully. I think the article is in part rant, and I doubt if I totally agree with it, but there's meat in it that ought to be considered:

But the international left is in its own contest with American exceptionalism. It keeps charging Israel and America with oppression hoping to mute American power. And this works in today's world because the oppression script is so familiar and because American power cringes when labeled with sins of the white Western past. Yet whenever the left does this, it makes room for extremism by lending legitimacy to its claim of oppression. And Israel can never use its military fire power without being labeled an oppressor--which brings legitimacy to the enemies she fights. Israel roars; much of Europe supports Hezbollah.

Over and over, white guilt turns the disparity in development between Israel and her neighbors into a case of Western bigotry. This despite the fact that Islamic extremism is the most explicit and dangerous expression of human bigotry since the Nazi era. Israel's historical contradiction, her torture, is to be a Western nation whose efforts to survive trap her in the moral mazes of white guilt. Its national defense will forever be white aggression.

Can we truly deal with the global situation in a rational way if we are too busy fighting our grandfathers' ghosts to see what we are actually dealing with? Or will our collective guilt for Europe's bad behaviors of the past be the tool that the East uses to destroy what we have built? Will we crumble quickly, like the Roman Empire in the west did, or will we do what is needed to meet the challenge, and exorcise those ghosts who would hold our hands?

Morning News Headlines

2006-08-27T10:12:00.000-07:00

Jesse
Jackson says Syria backs prisoners' release Reuters

French
troops aid in Lebanon rebuilding AP

Italy
seeking role in Mideast prisoner swap Reuters

Israel
detains Palestinian Hamas MP in West Bank AFP

Syria
will talk peace 'when Israel is ready' AFP

Israeli
FM flies to Germany for Mideast talks AFP

Tearful
Western journalists freed after Gaza kidnap ordeal AFP

Israel
PM faces tough choices on Lebanon war probe AFP

Fox
reporters freed in Gaza Reuters

Kidnapped
journalists forced to convert to Islam AFP

Hezbollah
survey of bombed Beirut suburbs almost complete AFP

Kidnapped
Western reporters freed in Gaza AFP

Israelis
still occupy nine positions in south Lebanon: military AFP

Key
US legislator says will block aid to Lebanon Reuters

Video
of kidnapped journalists released AP

Western
hostages in Gaza convert to Islam in new tape: Fox News AFP

Egypt
daily reports deal on Israel-Hezbollah prisoner swap AFP
ET

Israeli
airstrike hits Reuters vehicle AP

Two
Palestinian militants killed by Israeli fire in Gaza AFP

Italy's
Prodi restores diplomatic credentials with Lebanon tour de force AFP

Israelis
kill 2 Gaza gunmen, wound 7 Palestinians Reuters

Iran
tests submarine-to-surface missile AP

Iran
determined to make nuclear fuel despite UN ultimatum AFP

Iran
to pursue atom work despite deadline Reuters -

Iran
plans new light water nuclear reactor AFP

Iran
test-fires 'long-range' naval missile AFP

Egypt
in fresh crackdown against Muslim Brothers AFP

Egypt
daily reports deal on Israel-Hezbollah prisoner swap AFP

British
soldier, 10 Taliban killed in Afghanistan attacks AFP

Afghanistan
fighting kills NATO soldier AP

British
soldier killed in Afghan attack Reuters

Pakistan,
Afghanistan need a common approach to unrest AFP

One
NATO soldier killed, one wounded in Afghanistan AFP

China
reduces oil shipment to N. Korea AP

NKorea
warns of 'counter-measures' against US financial sanctions AFP

NKorea's
Kim calls China and Russia unreliable: report AFP

Rumsfeld,
Ivanov to discuss North Korea, Middle East in Alaska meeting AFP

Ynet

IDF
blows up Hizbullah bunker near border

(20:13 , 08.27.06)

Palestinian arrested near Nablus with knife

(20:00 , 08.27.06)

Nasrallah: UN force won't disarm Hizbullah

(19:46 , 08.27.06)

Olmert: Home Front command should appoint officer for each city

(19:32 , 08.27.06)

Jesse Jackson says Syria backs prisoners' release

(19:16 , 08.27.06)

US
congressman calls for withholding aid to Lebanon until Syrian border
sealed

(18:29 , 08.27.06)

Peres: New weapons systems must be developed to maintain our advantage

(18:06 , 08.27.06)

Custody of secretary-general of Palestinian parliament extended by 15
days

(18:03 , 08.27.06)

Italy: We're not involved in secret talks on captive exchanges

(17:54 , 08.27.06)

Palestinians: IDF arrests member of Palestinian Legislative Council

(17:44 , 08.27.06)

Morning News Roundup

2006-08-26T08:57:00.000-07:00

Foreign journalists taken hostage in Gaza to be released Saturday, it seems

Published: 08.26.06, 16:04

Palestinian sources estimated that Saturday the affair of the two kidnapped journalists from Fox News in Gaza will come to an end. Saturday, the deadline of the 72-hour ultimatum put forth by kidnappers to the American government passes. According to the ultimatum, the American government had to release Muslim prisoners in American jails.

Despite the expiration of the ultimatum, the Palestinian Defense and Interior Ministry estimated that "the issue is being dealt with in a positive manner, such that the affair is likely to end Saturday." (Ali Waked)

Defying U.N., Iran opens nuclear reactor

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 25 minutes ago

An Iranian plant that produces heavy water officially went into operation on Saturday, despite U.N. demands that Tehran stop the activity because it can be used to develop a nuclear bomb.

Palestinian journalists call for show of solidarity with kidnapped reporters

Published: 08.26.06, 16:27

President of the Palestinian Journalists Association, Naim Tubasi, called in a press conference in Ramallah on all the media to halt their activity for one hour Sunday morning, in a show of solidarity with the two Fox News kidnapped reporters.

Tubasi said that the journalists' abduction was a crime and a stab in the back of the Palestinian nation. (AFP)

Pressure mounts on Sudan to accept UN Darfur mission

Published: 08.26.06, 17:00

As pressure mounts on Sudan to accept UN troops in its violent Darfur region, the Khartoum government is closing ranks in defiance, raising fears of a deadlock that could hasten Darfur's descent into chaos. The top US diplomat on Africa, Jendayi Frazer, is to arrive in
Khartoum on Saturday carrying a strong message from
President George W. Bush that President Omar Hassan al-Bashir should drop his opposition to a UN takeover of a struggling African Union mission in Sudan's west.

During a two-day visit, Frazer hopes to meet Sudanese officials ahead of a Security Council meeting on Monday to discuss a British draft resolution to deploy around 20,000 UN police and soldiers to Darfur. (AP)

Germany demands authority to search Lebanese ships
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 26, 2006

Germany said on Saturday that the ships that it was expected to send to monitor the Lebanese coast must be given the authority to stop suspicious ships and conduct searches on board in order to prevent the smuggling of arms.

The deputy chancellor said he was certain the German government and parliament would approve the sending of the patrol ships, Israel Radio reported.

Hizbullah surprised at Israeli offensive
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 26, 2006

Deputy Chief of Hizbullah, Naeem Kasam said Saturday that the organization was surprised at the extent of Israel's response to the kidnapping of IDF soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser.

"We were surprised by the size and strength of the Israeli reaction. We expected that the IDF would bomb areas close to the border for several days and only cause minimal damage," Kasam said in an interview with Lebanese newspaper A-Nahar.

According to the deputy, Hizbullah had information that the US and Israel were planning to launch an attack against the organization in September or October, but due to American and Israeli public pressure following the kidnapping of the two soldiers, the attacks were carried out earlier, prior to Israel being fully prepared for a full-scale attack.

Furthermore, Kasam noted that Hizbullah would not disarm because Israel continued to occupy the Shabba Farms, still held Lebanese prisoners and IAF planes flew in Lebanese airspace on a day-to-day basis.

Israel seeks troops from Muslim nations

By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 15 minutes ago

Israel said Saturday it was encouraging some Muslim countries to send peacekeepers to southern Lebanon, a contribution that would lend credibility to the heavily European force.

Egypt arrests top Muslim Brotherhood members

Fri Aug 25, 3:15 PM ET

The secretary general of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Mahmoud Ezzat, and 15 members of the opposition group were arrested north of Cairo, the organization's deputy chief told AFP.

Mohammed Habib said that among those held was Lashin Abu Shanab, a member of the Brotherhood's political leadership, as well as officials from various provinces.

Iraqi officials: Sunni lawmaker freed

(AP)

Kidnapped Sunni lawmaker Tayseer al-Mashhadani was released Saturday after being held for nearly two months, an adviser to the prime minister and a senior official from her party said.

Iraqi PM looks to tribes for unity

By Mussab Al-Khairalla (Reuters)

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki urged hundreds of tribal leaders gathered in Baghdad on Saturday to unite to end the bitter sectarian bloodshed between Sunnis and Shi'ites that has raised fears of civil war.

"Iraq needs all of its sons during this stage. There is no difference between Sunnis and Shi'ites," he told the meeting, the first in a series to promote dialogue between the warring sects as part of his national reconciliation programme.

Islamic militia expands in Somalia

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY, Associated Press WriterFri Aug 25, 1:55 PM ET

An Islamic militia that controls most of southern Somalia is now expanding into the center of this Horn of Africa country, imposing order after years of anarchy but also sparking worries of an emerging Taliban-style regime.

U.S. says Darfur is getting worse

By Sue PlemingFri Aug 25, 10:43 PM ET Reuters

The United States, which is trying to get Khartoum to accept a U.N. force in Darfur, said on Friday Sudan was preparing a new offensive in its devastated western province and that rebels there were rearming.

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, who spoke before leaving for a visit to Sudan, said the situation was getting much worse in Darfur and a U.N. force was needed urgently to stop what Washington has called genocide.

Abbas' party OKs Hamas unity government

By SHAFIKA MATTAR, Associated Press WriterFri Aug 25, 9:11 PM ET

Top leaders of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party gave their leader the go-ahead Friday to begin forming a unity government with the militant Hamas in an effort to end internal feuding and international isolation, a party member said.

Saudi favors 'moderate' oil prices: king

Sat Aug 26, 5:47 AM ET AFP

Oil powerhouse Saudi Arabia favors "moderate" crude prices despite reaping a windfall from record highs on world markets, King Abdullah said in remarks.

"The kingdom's petroleum policy is moderation in prices. Despite the benefits that the increase in prices brings us, we advocate moderation in oil prices," he told the Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat Saturday.

Two bombs injure four in Turkish city: agency

Sat Aug 26, 3:16 AM ET Reuters

Two bombs exploded in the southern Turkish city of Adana late on Friday, injuring four people, state news agency Anatolian reported.

China, SKorea to work to prevent NKorea nuclear test

Sat Aug 26, 1:18 AM ET AFP

South Korea and China have agreed to work together to try to dissuade North Korea from carrying out a nuclear weapons test, a top presidential advisor has announced.

Morning News Roundup

2006-08-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

Japan: Activity identified in nuclear test site in North Korea
Published: 08.24.06, 16:10

Japan confirms vehicle activity around North Korean nuclear testing site, Kyodo News agency reports. (AP)

Second suspect in attempted German train bombings arrested in Lebanon

Published: 08.24.06, 13:03

The second main suspect in a failed plot to bomb two German trains last month turned himself in to authorities in his native Lebanon on Thursday, German federal prosecutors said.

Jihad Hamad, 19, was arrested Thursday morning after turning himself in to police in the city of Tripoli, prosecutors said in a statement. The other main suspect, a 21-year-old Lebanese student identified as Youssef Mohamad el Hajdib, was arrested in Germany last weekend. (AP)

Annan expected to visit Syria and Iran
Wed. 23 Aug 2006

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan plans to go to Lebanon and Israel shortly and probably Syria and Iran as well to help enforce the cease-fire in Lebanon, the United Nations announced on Wednesday.

Merkel says Iran's nuclear response unsatisfactory
Associated Press, Aug. 24, 2006

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that Iran's response to a package aimed at blunting concerns over its nuclear program appears unsatisfactory and is missing a "decisive sentence" on whether it would halt uranium enrichment.

"We are still examining it, but from everything that I hear we cannot be satisfied," Merkel said in an interview with N24 television.

The UN Security Council has set an Aug. 31 deadline for Iran to halt uranium enrichment or face the risk of economic and political sanctions.

Intelligence Committee report slams spy agencies for underestimating Tehran

Ynet and Reuters
Published: 08.24.06, 14:18

A report published in Washington Wednesday warned that the United States underestimated the Iranian threat as a result of "significant gaps" in intelligence information collected by American spy agencies.

Italy: France expected to increase soldiers dispatched to Lebanon

Published: 08.24.06, 16:12

An Italian minister says he expects Chirac to announce substantial increase in French force for Lebanon. (Reuters)

Iran nuclear issue may head next to U.N.

By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer1 hour, 56 minutes ago

The United States is working with European allies and other governments over a possible U.N. response to what the Bush administration characterizes as Iran's inadequate answer to demands that it cease uranium enrichment.

Islamic website offers tips on killing foreigners in Saudi Arabia, tells potential attackers murdering foreigners easier than they think

Published: 08.24.06, 12:51

The Islamic al-Khasba website has published on August 4 a document titled "How to Kill a Crusader on the Arabian Peninsula," The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported. The document details several possible ways to kill western victims and provides tips on selecting them, following them, and finally murdering them. Ynet

Italian FM: We are not involved in contacts for releasing kidnapped

Published: 08.24.06, 16:59

Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said that Italy "is not involved in contacts for the release of the two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah."

In a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni at the end of their meeting in Rome, D'Alema said that Italy would not act on the issue without Israel's request. (Ynet)

IDF intelligence chief: Arrogant Syria will try to reclaim Golan

Published: 08.24.06, 15:50

The head of the Israel Defense Forces Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that after the war with Hizbullah, Syria will try to reclaim the Golan Heights through either diplomatic or military means.

Yadlin added that Hizbullah is trying to improve its image among the population in southern Lebanon by offering Iranian-funneled financial compensation for damaged property. (Attila Somfalvi)

Israel may 'go it alone' against Iran
Herb Keinon, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 24, 2006

Israel is carefully watching the world's reaction to Iran's continued refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, with some high-level officials arguing it is now clear that when it comes to stopping Iran, Israel "may have to go it alone," The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Bush praises Italy offer to lead Lebanon force

Published: 08.24.06, 16:43

US President George W. Bush has told Italy's Prime Minister Romano Prodi of his "positive" view of Italy's offer to lead a UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, Prodi said in a statement on Thursday.

In a phone call with Prodi, Bush "talked of his contacts with the UN secretary general in which the availability and Italian leadership were commented on very positively," the statement said. (Reuters)

Livni: Israel must focus on a Palestinian solution
THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 24, 2006

Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni said Thursday that Israel must focus its political efforts on a solution to the Palestinian/ Israeli conflict and not on Syrian efforts.

New Zealand: We Won’t Negotiate With Terrorists
14:55 Aug 24, '06 / 30 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) An envoy of New Zealand announced his government has refused to negotiate for the release of 36 year old Olaf Wiig, a New Zealand national. Wiig, a cameraman for the Fox News TV network was kidnapped in Gaza along with 60 year old Steve Centanni, an American Fox News reporter on August 14th.

Hizbullah: Blair must stay far away from Lebanon
THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 24, 2006

Hizbullah warned British Prime Minister Tony Blair that he should steer clear of Lebanon, a Hizbullah official said in an interview with the London Times on Thursday.

The official said that the PM should stay way from Lebanon as his hands were covered with the blood of Lebanese women and children.

Syria Threatens to Close Border With Lebanon if Int'l Troops Deployed
07:11 Aug 24, '06 / 30 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Syrian president, Bashar Assad announced that he would close Syria’s border with Lebanon if international troops are deployed there in accordance with the UN-backed cease-fire between Lebanon and Israel.

Assad warned that he would consider such deployment a hostile move towards his country.

India considers withdrawing Lebanon peacekeepers
Associated Press Aug. 24, 2006

India is considering withdrawing its existing peacekeepers from southern Lebanon, even as the international community struggles to find troops to bolster forces there, officials said.

"We are considering withdrawing our troops from Lebanon," Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee said late Wednesday.

Mukherjee, however, said the 775 Indian soldiers would not leave before UN reinforcements arrive.

US, Japan vow further missile defense cooperation
THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 24, 2006

Japan and the United States will work closely to develop a joint missile defense shield against the threat posed by North Korea, the top US commander in the Pacific said Wednesday.

Adm. William Fallon of the Hawaii-based US Pacific Command also said during a meeting in Tokyo with Japan's foreign minister that the allies should continue bolstering defense cooperation, according to ministry official Hiroyuki Mase.

Fallon was responding to Foreign Minister Taro Aso's request that the two countries cooperate further in response to North Korea's missile tests last month, Mase said.

Sudan asks UNSC for time to bring peace to Darfur
Associated Press Aug. 24, 2006

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir asked the UN Security Council to give his government time to bring peace to Darfur and delay action on the transfer of peacekeeping in the conflict-wracked region from the African Union to a UN force, according to a letter circulated Wednesday.

Whodunit?

2006-08-23T15:46:00.000-07:00

Today, I was noticing on the Haaretz news ticker the following item:

21:28 Islamic Jihad leader in Jenin, Husam Jaradat, critically wounded by IDF fire (Haaretz)

With all the bad news coming out of that area, I didn't think much about it, but a little later, this following piece comes up:

21:53 Fearing his arrest by IDF, Jihad militants snatch Husam Jaradat from hospital (Haaretz)

Arutz Sheva tell us:

(IsraelNN.com) Palestinian eyewitnesses have reported that Islamic Jihad leader Hussam Jeradat was mortally wounded by IDF fire in Jenin earlier today. An IDF spokesman stated that the army was aware of shooting in the city, but the circumstances of the incident have not yet been investigated.

Later on, Jaradat was removed from hospital by Islamic Jihad activists, because they were concerned that the IDF would find him. Jaradat’s condition is not yet clear.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=110672

Images of commandos making a raid in a hospital flashed through my head. But then it gets interesting:

00:19 Islamic Jihad says not sure IDF behind shooting on Jaradat in Jenin (AP)

Not an IDF raid? A squabble between factions masquerading as an IDF hit? Islamic Jihad sources told Ynet that they are looking into the possibility that the assassination attempt was part of an internal rift after last Tuesday Jaradat and his men clashed with a Palestinian commander who tried to confiscate a stolen car in their possession.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3295044,00.html

A stolen car, high tensions, and a man who has been dodging assassination attempts for weeks now, snatched out of a hospital bed where he may be dieing...the stuff of movies. It is not known if he is still alive or dead. More to follow, I am sure. I hope his fellows didn't kill him in trying to save him.

Morning News Roundup

2006-08-23T07:52:00.000-07:00

Israelis: Lebanon situation 'explosive'

AP

Israel's foreign minister on Wednesday called the situation in Lebanon "explosive" and urged the international community to work quickly to deploy peacekeeping troops there.

U.S. presence causing instability in the region - Iran military chief

Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Aug. 23 – The Supreme Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps accused the United States of destabilising the Middle East region.

“The current era is one of distrust. Our region is going through a period of instability and increased feelings of insecurity on a regional and international scale, and this is due to the presence of the occupiers in Afghanistan and Iraq”, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi was quoted as saying by the government-run news agency ILNA on Tuesday.

He described the circumstances of the region as “sensitive, complicated, and fate-determining”.

EU struggles to hammer out troop contributions for Lebanon force

AFP

EU members were to try to shed light on who is to play what role in an enlarged UN force in southern Lebanon, ahead of a special meeting of foreign ministers and the United Nations.

Former president of Iran invited to speak in D.C.
Tue. 22 Aug 2006

Washington Post

Despite a looming diplomatic showdown with Iran over its nuclear program, the Bush administration has agreed to issue a visa to former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to give a public address at the Washington National Cathedral next month, according to the Rev. Canon John L. Peterson, director of the Center for Global Justice and Reconciliation.

Lebanon wants US to help lift Israel blockade

Reuters

Lebanon urged the United States on Wednesday to make Israel remove a sea and air blockade it imposed at the start of its 34-day war with Hizbollah fighters.

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora also called on Washington to boost its financial aid to help Lebanon recover from war-related economic damage running into billions of dollars.

Analysis: New Middle East realities
Wed. 23 Aug 2006

United Press International

Aug. 23 (UPI) -- There may well be a new Middle East taking shape in the horizon, but it looks nothing like the one envisioned by President Bush. Instead of democracy being the order of the day, there is a real threat of Islamist theocracies, led by Iran, imposing their rule.

Belgian foreign minister: Belgium weighing to send large force to Middle East

Published: 08.23.06, 12:58

Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht said during his meeting with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Paris that "Belgium is weighing sending a force to the multinational force that will be stationed in Lebanon." (Ronny Sofer)

Bomb narrowly misses Iraqi minister

By QAIS AL-BASHIR, Associated Press Writer 29 minutes ago

A roadside bomb exploded Wednesday in Baghdad and narrowly missed the interior minister's convoy, killing two civilians and wounding several traffic policemen, officials said.

Amir Peretz Convenes Faction Meeting on Coalition Crisis
11:06 Aug 23, '06 / 29 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Labor party chairman Amir Peretz and faction leader Efraim Sneh have decided to convene a meeting of the faction to discuss the current coalition crisis surrounding party members’ opposition to voting in favor of widespread budget cuts.

A senior party source stated that the meeting is expected to be turbulent due to opposition to Peretz among faction members.

PM appoints Sheetrit justice minister
gil hoffman and jpost staff, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 23, 2006

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appointed Housing and Construction Minister Meir Sheetrit as interim justice minister on Wednesday morning.

Sheetrit will replace Haim Ramon for a three-month period while Ramon fights charges of sexual harassment. Olmert has said he hoped Ramon would be exonerated by then.

Fox kidnappers set 72-hour deadline
associated press, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 23, 2006

A previously unheard-of Palestinian group released video footage on Wednesday showing two kidnapped Fox News journalists, and demanded that Muslim prisoners in US jails be released within 72 hours in exchange for the men, the Palestinian news agency Ramattan reported.

New Rules of Engagement for UNIFIL
Wednesday, August 23, 2006 / 29 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) New rules of engagement for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) have been published in a document containing 21 pages of guidelines and restrictions for the troops operating in southern Lebanon. The document specifies that the use of force is allowed in order to protect civilians, to resist armed attempts to interfere with carrying out the UNIFIL mandates and for the purpose of self-defense. It does not permit the international peacekeeping force to disarm Hizbullah, even in the security buffer zone along the border with Israel. European countries have been reluctant to fulfill earlier pledges to send thousands of troops to expand the current UNIFIL contingent from 2,000 soldiers up to a new force of 15,000 by October. The foot-dragging was attributed by international leaders to the lack of clarity regarding the UNIFIL rules of engagement.

Report: US indirectly strengthened Iran

Report by team of UK researchers claims that bringing down Iraq, Afghanistan regimes created political vacuum filled by Iran. Researchers add that Israeli-Palestinian conflict contributes to instability in region

Turkish Officials Negotiating with Meshaal for Shalit Release
Wednesday, August 23, 2006 / 29 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Iranian news agency Irna has reported that negotiations by Turkish officials with Damascus-based Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal over the release of an IDF hostage are reaching the final stages.

An advisor to Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul met Tuesday with Meshaal to discuss the release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit. The captive soldier kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in a raid on an IDF army base at the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Gaza and Egypt on June 25th

Dutch F-16s escort US plane to Amsterdam airport
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 23, 2006

Dutch F-16s escorted a Northwest Airlines flight bound for India back to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport Wednesday, and authorities detained several passengers for questioning, an airport spokeswoman said. The pilot requested permission to return as the aircraft was flying over Germany shortly after leaving Amsterdam, and asked for a military escort, spokeswoman Pamela Kuypers said. Customs police were investigating the security alert, and airport authorities had no further information on what caused the alarm, she said. The Dutch National Terrorism Coordinator's Office was informed, but said there was no cause to raise the nation's terror threat level, said spokeswoman Judith Sluiter.

France says Iran must suspend uranium enrichment
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 23, 2006

France's foreign minister said Wednesday that Iran must suspend uranium enrichment if it wants to return to the negotiating table and try to end the international dispute over its contested nuclear program.

At a news conference, Philippe Douste-Blazy declined to make any specific comments about Iran's counterproposal to a Western nuclear incentives package, saying the document was extremely complicated and merited further study. "I want to point out again that France is available to negotiate, and to recall that, as we have always said ... a return to the negotiating table is linked to the suspension of uranium enrichment," he said.

Denmark willing to send 3 navy vessels to Lebanon
associated press, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 23, 2006

Denmark has offered to send three navy ships to help patrol Lebanon's coastline but is not prepared to contribute troops to the UN peacekeeping force, the defense minister said Wednesday.

"I have no ambitions to send troops to Lebanon because we simply do not have them," Soeren Gade said. Presently, Denmark has a maximum of 1,200 soldiers assigned to international operations, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo.

Report: New group responsible for Fox kidnappings

A previously unheard-of Palestinian group, the Holy Jihad Brigades, claimed responsibility on Wednesday for kidnapping a Fox News cameraman and correspondent, Al-Jazeera satellite TV reported.

American correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, and cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand were kidnapped August 14 from their TV van near the Palestinian security services headquarters in Gaza City.

Although Palestinian terrorist groups have often seized foreigners, including members of the media, this is the longest any have been held.

Minister to PM: Form national emergency government

Published: 08.23.06, 11:50

Minister Jacob Edery (Kadima), who is in charge of the coordination between the government and the Knesset, called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to form a national emergency government.

In a letter to the PM, Edery wrote: "Rebuilding and strengthening the IDF, tending to the social gaps and a forming a united front in face of the Iranian threat – these goals require an emergency government that includes all the Zionist parties." (Ronny Sofer)

Something to mark for further watching:

2006-08-23T06:22:00.000-07:00

Possible judicial conflict of interest on the NSA wiretap ruling.

From Judicial Watch:

(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and judicial abuse, announced today that Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, who last week ruled the government’s warrantless wiretapping program unconstitutional, serves as a Secretary and Trustee for a foundation that donated funds to the ACLU of Michigan, a plaintiff in the case (ACLU et. al v. National Security Agency). Judicial Watch discovered the potential conflict of interest after reviewing Judge Diggs Taylor’s financial disclosure statements.

According to her 2003 and 2004 financial disclosure statements, Judge Diggs Taylor served as Secretary and Trustee for the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan (CFSEM). She was reelected to this position in June 2005. The official CFSEM website states that the foundation made a “recent grant” of $45,000 over two years to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan, a plaintiff in the wiretapping case. Judge Diggs Taylor sided with the ACLU of Michigan in her recent decision.

No matter the validity or not of her ruling, this is going to make that ruling look questionable, and is a clear case where the judge should have stepped aside. Didn't she realize people would dig this up and throw mud on the whole issue? Or has the politics of this bypassed honest justice and jurisprudential good sense?

In Iran, the 22nd has come and gone...

2006-08-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

Yes, all paranoia aside, the 22nd has come and gone in Iran and Lewis, Spencer, Debka, and all the others who KNEW something dastardly was going to happen in a sneak attack tied in to the Islamic holy day (one which is not the main one even celebrated by Shiites on this day) thankfully have not had their scenarios come to pass.

This in a way, reminds me of the furor about the Bermuda Triangle that swept the country when I was younger. People gathered information, statistics, build story after story on earlier stories, often highlighting and spinning them so they seemed more true and believable. But it all was based on one poorly researched article in Argosy magazine, and everything was piled up on that.

In this case, I believe the root might have been Bernard Lewis' speculation, followed by a few articles that took his speculation and ran with it. These in turn, captured the imagination of the blogosphere and others, and spread like wildfire among those who track this sort of thing.

This is another case of how one can make what looks like a probable case seem solid if it fits your expectations and preconceptions.

I will not downplay the fact that Iran is a major player in the events taking place in the middle east, but some people see the Iranian president as the boogie man, and paint him like some Persian Dr. Moriarity instead of looking at facts and figures, and their own very human desire to fit everything into neat catagories and expectations. The reality is, as usual, more complicated and less gothic than our hearts would like to make it.

And that in itself says something interesting about us all.

Standing on the Rubicon

Political News from Israel

One side or the other

Morning World News Roundup

Learning about Islam

Morning World News Roundup

Morning World News Roundup

Something to ponder:

Some News Headlines from Israel

More thoughts on the Long War we find ourselves in:

Morning News Roundup

The New Face of World War (and why it's already a long war)

Evening News from Swiss Info

Memes of Destruction and Freelancing

Morning News Roundup

Evening News roundup from SwissInfo

They Make a Desert and Call It Victory Part 2

Is the defense of liberty worth the cost?

They Make a Desert and Call it Victory

Morning News Headlines

Evening News Roundup (from Israel, Lebanon, Swiss Info, Iran, Pakistan

See Also

The Long War

The notion of a "long war" on terrorism

Will we continue to fight the 21st Century's Wars with 20th Century concepts?

Wings and Boots

Morning News Roundup

Hate Amid the Ruins

Ghost Dancing

Morning News Headlines

Morning News Roundup

Morning News Roundup

Whodunit?

Morning News Roundup

Something to mark for further watching:

In Iran, the 22nd has come and gone...