A regularly updated column of news briefs from around the region
Saudi forces thwart attack on oil installation
RIYADH - Saudi security forces foiled a car bomb attack on February 24 against an oil gathering center at Abqaiq where two blasts were heard in Saudi Arabia's oil-rich Eastern Province, industry sources and residents said.
Residents of Abqaiq, 35 kilometers (20 miles) south of Dammam, the main city of the Eastern Province, said that they heard two blasts near the plant and saw two burned-out cars outside. It was not immediately clear if the abortive attack was the work of suicide bombers. It was the first known attempted attack on an oil installation in Saudi Arabia.
Israel's Kadima retains big lead
JERUSALEM - Israel's ruling Kadima party has maintained its strong lead in the polls on February 24 ahead of next month's election. A survey in the top-selling Yedioth Ahronoth daily of 500 voters projected that Kadima was on course to win 39 of the 120 seats in the Knesset on March 28, a drop of two seats on the last survey. The center-left Labor party was on course to win 19 seats while the rightwing Likud party was expected to win 16. Similar results were published in the English-language daily The Jerusalem Post.
Kurdish rebels killed in Turkey
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey - Eight Kurdish rebels were killed in a firefight with Turkish troops in the southeast of the country, local security sources said on February 24. The shootout erupted on Thursday and continued on Friday near the village of Belen, Mardin province, a mainly Kurdish-populated part of the country situated several kilometers from the border with Syria.
IRC launches Ethiopia drought appeal
GENEVA - The international Red Cross (IRC) on February 23 launched an appeal for 1.45 million Swiss francs ($1.1 million) to help tens of thousands of people hit by drought in Ethiopia. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said that it needed the money to provide aid supplies over a year for 36,000 people and their livestock in the south of the African country.
The region is among the worst affected by a drought that has struck across the Horn of Africa, leaving millions at risk from hunger - including 2.6 million in Ethiopia alone. "The failure of the rains and the exhaustion of water sources, such as ponds and traditional deep wells, have caused water levels to drop dramatically," the Red Cross said in a statement.
Sudan rejects UN replacing AU
KHARTOUM - The Sudanese government on February 23 renewed its opposition to a UN military intervention in Darfur and denied the African Union (AU) the right to propose replacing its own mission by UN peacekeepers. Khartoum had "drawn up plans for averting the dangers of such an intervention by launching a political and diplomatic offensive", interior minister Al Zubair Beshir Taha said at a press briefing.
Ayman Nur questioned for battery
CAIRO - Egyptian opposition figure Ayman Nur, sentenced in December to five years in prison for falsifying official documents, was questioned on February 23 for allegedly beating a member of the ruling party. Nur appeared before a court in southern Cairo to respond to charges of "hitting and wounding a member of the National Democratic Party with a wooden sign", said a statement by Nur's Ghad party. The attack allegedly took place on September 7, the day of the presidential election, the statement said, adding that Nur had also been questioned for "insulting the president of the republic".
UK probes 'dangerous' landing of Iran plane
LONDON - Investigators are to probe an incident in which an Iranian airline apparently descended at a dangerously low level to a British airport on February 23 and was forced to abort its landing, transport officials said. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch will look into why the Mahan Air jet on the scheduled six-hour flight between Tehran and Birmingham, west central England, was forced to "go around" and land at the second attempt.
Aviation security expert Chris Yates told BBC News 24 television that he understood that the plane involved was an A310 Airbus with an unspecified number of passengers on board and was operated by the private Tehran-based carrier. "At six miles [9.6 kilometers] out, the plane should have been coming in at about 1,800 feet [548 meters] but seems to have been logged by air traffic controllers at 600 feet."
Journalist jailed, Mubarak urged to fulfill press law
CAIRO - An Egyptian reporter was jailed on February 23 for defamation shortly after the media watchdog, Committee to Protect Journalists, urged President Hosni Mubarak to fulfill a two-year-old pledge to amend a law that hands jail terms to journalists convicted in libel cases. Cairo's penal court sentenced Abdel Nasser Al Zuhairi, a journalist at the independent daily Al Masri Al Yom, to one year in prison for defamation of environment minister Mohammed Suleiman, a judicial source said.
100 Afghan commanders hand over weapons
SHEBERGHAN, Afghanistan - Afghan warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum, armed forces chief of staff, hosted a ceremony in which more than 100 commanders handed over 400 weapons in the town of northern Sheberghan, capital of Jawzjan province that has long been considered his personal fiefdom. Dostum said that he hoped that the handover of the weapons, including 110 AK-47s, would pave the way for more development in the potentially oil-rich province, which has seen little of the insurgency-linked violence plaguing southern and eastern Afghanistan.
Islamists urge snub of US Hamas boycott
CAIRO - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood urged Arab countries on February 23 "not to succumb to pressure from the United States" pressing them not to support a Hamas-led Palestinian government. Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mehdi Akef made the call as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was touring the region to drum up support against the group, which Washington charges is a terrorist organization.
Japan gives $1.3mn for Palestinians
GAZA CITY - Japan has given $1.3 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees for three programs to aid isolated refugee communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, UNWRA announced on February 23.
Afghans held in Greece without food
ATHENS - Four Afghan immigrants were held captive in a shed in Greece for three days without food as smugglers demanded ransoms of $3,600 each from their families, police said on February 23. Police freed the immigrants and arrested three alleged smugglers, two Palestinians and an Iraqi, on February 22.
Kuwaiti Shias protest against attack on Iraqi shrine
KUWAIT CITY - Several hundred Kuwaiti Shia Muslims gathered on the outskirts of Kuwait City on February 23 to protest against the bombing of a Shia shrine in neighboring Iraq. Speakers warned the protestors, who were meeting amid tight security outside a popular Shia mosque, of a plot to incite a sectarian rift. Outspoken Shia MP Hussein Al Qallaf warned in a speech against what he called a "conspiracy to incite sectarian rift among Muslims in order to make them forget Jerusalem and their occupied lands".
Doctors remove liquid from Sharon's abdomen
JERUSALEM - Israel's comatose Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on February 22 had excess liquid drained from his abdomen by doctors after undergoing a scan, a hospital spokesman said. The 77-year-old premier did not undergo an operation and there is no change to his otherwise critical but stable condition, Ron Krumer said.
Thirty-two held after Egypt sectarian clashes
CAIRO - Egypt's attorney general ordered 32 suspects remanded in custody on February 22 in connection with sectarian clashes south of Cairo that left eight people wounded. They included both Christians and Muslims arrested after the February 20 violence in the village of Ayat, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of Cairo, judicial sources said. The violence came amid Muslim anger over the construction of a community center by their Christian fellow villagers.
Egypt's Nur says reform goes beyond his case
CAIRO - Jailed opposition leader Ayman Nur said on February 22 that his case represented only one of the many problems confronting the political reform movement in Egypt. Nur, the runner-up in Egypt's presidential election, was jailed in December for five years for allegedly forging official documents in order to form his Ghad (Tomorrow) party.
Iran in mourning after Iraq shrine bombing
TEHRAN - Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered seven days of national mourning in Shia-led Iran on February 22 after a bomb attack on one of Shia Islam's holiest shrines in neighboring Iraq. Khamenei called on Iraq's Shia majority not to resort to revenge attacks against Sunni Arabs. He called on Iraqi Shias to avoid attacking Sunni mosques in order not to "help the enemies of Islam".
Britain presses for UN to move into Darfur
LONDON - Britain's International Development Secretary Hilary Benn called on February 22 for the United Nations to take over peacekeeping duties in the conflict-torn Sudanese region of Darfur. "The security situation has deteriorated ..." said Benn, speaking to BBC radio from Darfur where he was seeing Sudanese officials. "The rebels have been responsible for an increasing proportion of the attacks. The Arab militia [backed by Khartoum] are still at work." A bigger, better-funded UN peacekeeping contingent would step into the boots of an underfunded, overstretched African Union force which, Benn said, is being hindered by the Sudanese government.
Deadly attack on Germans in Afghanistan
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan - A bomb fixed to a bicycle blew up near NATO troops in Afghanistan on February 22, killing the man riding it and a local Afghan and wounding 13 others including a German soldier, police said. It was unclear if the man whose bicycle exploded near an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) convoy in the northern city of Kunduz was a suicide attacker, police commander Mohammad Razaq said. He may have been unaware that his bike was rigged, Razaq said.
First human rights body licensed in UAE
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The UAE has given the green light to its first nongovernmental organization to begin work to enforce human rights in the Gulf state, said Al Emirat Al Yawm newspaper on February 22. The newspaper quoted the social affairs ministry as saying that the Emirates Human Rights Association (EHRA) aimed to "respect and enforce human rights according to the state's laws and constitution" and "report to specialized authorities on the conditions of political prisoners and prisoners of opinion and detainees". EHRA will be based in Abu Dhabi while active membership will be confined to UAE nationals.
Israel arrests Hamas followers in West Bank
JERUSALEM - Six Palestinians, including three members of the newly elected radical Hamas movement, were arrested overnight in the occupied West Bank by Israeli security services. All six, which also included two members of the extremist Islamic Jihad movement, had been on an Israeli wanted list, military sources said.
Turkey must recognize Nicosia government
VIENNA - Turkey has "until the end of 2006" to recognize the Greek-Cypriot government, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel told reporters on February 21 after meeting Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos in Vienna. Schuessel, whose country holds the EU presidency, told Papadopoulos that the EU would give "all possible help" to solve the conflict that has divided the island since 1974.
Afghan warlords hand over 15 tons of ammo
KABUL - Five former Afghan commanders in the eastern province of Paktia surrendered about 15 tons of ammunition and 30 weapons on February 21 as part of a government program to disarm the hundreds of illegal groups in Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai's administration is trying to extend its authority beyond the capital Kabul into remote areas largely controlled by warlords who have private armies.
Iran confirms jailing 'striking' bus drivers
TEHRAN - Iranian authorities said on February 21 that they had jailed six Tehran bus drivers amid reports that a larger number of their colleagues had been jailed for organizing a strike last month. Justice minister Jamal Karimi-Rad told reporters that the six men were being held in jail for "illegal acts" but refused to specify the charges. Media reports have said that a January 28 strike calling for better wages and the right to form a union was thwarted by the authorities' detention of scores of drivers and a number of their leaders.
Al Qaeda fighting 'to reinstate Taliban'
PARIS - The Al Qaeda network is waging jihad (holy war) in Afghanistan in an effort to restore the Islamist Taliban regime, a senior Al Qaeda operative said in an audiotape posted on February 21 on the Internet. "We, members of the Al Qaeda organization ... are currently waging jihad in Afghanistan alongside our brethren from the Taliban," Abu Laith Al Libi said in the recording. Libi, a Libyan Islamist, said that the aim was "to defeat the occupier and the government it installed in Kabul, and to reinstate the Islamic state".
According to Libi, the joint operations are being carried out by Al Qaeda and the Taliban "under the command of Mullah Saif Al Rahman Al Mansur". Libi's remarks were recorded during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan last October.
Cartoon row now 'between Muslim world, EU'
COPENHAGEN - Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen on February 21 said that the conflict over Prophet Mohammed cartoons first published in his country had evolved into a clash between the entire European Union and the Muslim world. "This affair is not just an issue between Denmark and the Muslim world. It has to a much greater degree evolved into an affair between the European Union and the Muslim world," Rasmussen told reporters in Copenhagen.
"It is obvious to everybody that this crisis no longer just concerns these 12 drawings in [Danish newspaper] Jyllands-Posten. It is now about completely different goals being pursued in the Muslim world," Rasmussen said.
Syrian opposition rejects US funding
DAMASCUS - Secular opposition groups in Syria on February 21 rejected a US plan to allocate $5 million to pro-reform activists, in a statement. The groups, under the "Damascus Declaration" banner, rejected "any financial assistance from any party", after the US State Department announced on February 17 that it would give the funds "to accelerate the work of reformers in Syria". The money would come from the department's Middle East Partnership Initiative to encourage reform in the region, the State Department said.
The Damascus Declaration, made up of several opposition groups and figures, stressed that the formation had "no link" with a meeting in Brussels earlier this month between Syria's dissident former vice-president Abdel Halim Khaddam and the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
Israeli nationalist party vows no new pullouts
JERUSALEM - Lawmakers from Israel's newly merged ultra-nationalist party on February 20 unveiled their election campaign, stressing that they would never support the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank. "We won't allow the uprooting of any Jewish community and the creation of a Palestinian state between the [Mediterranean] sea and the Jordan River," said Benny Elon who is the party's chief candidate. The list standing in Israel's March 28 election unites the National Union and the National Religious Party, two religious Zionist parties that draw much of their support from Israel's settler movement. It has yet to finalize its name.
Five dead in Yemen floods
SANAA - At least five people have been killed in severe flooding south of the Yemeni capital Sanaa brought on by torrential rains at the start of the rainy season, a local official said on February 21. The five drowned in the floods that swept through Dhamar, 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of Sanaa, late on Monday, the official said.
Turkey to mediate cartoon row for EU
BRUSSELS - The European Union has called on Turkey to mediate in the cartoon conflict with the Muslim world, saying that intercultural dialogue could mend the differences. The Austrian presidency of the EU has asked Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul to present his ideas for long-term solutions to the row between European countries and the Muslim world over the publication of Mohammed cartoons, Danish daily Politiken reported on Tuesday.
Congress weary of Iraq war cost
WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush's sixth request to Congress for funding the war in Iraq and Afghanistan is encountering grumbling from lawmakers. Bush's emergency spending request, sent to Capitol Hill last week, includes $72.4 billion for the global war on terror, the total cost of which is approaching $400 billion. Lawmakers have questioned administration officials on why, despite spending more than $20 billion on rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure, services were still below prewar levels.
US freezes Muslim charity
TOLEDO, OH, USA - The US Treasury Department has taken over the offices of a Muslim charity based in Ohio and ordered a freeze on its assets. KindHearts was founded to provide an outlet for Muslim giving in the US after the government shut down several other charities on the grounds that they were funding international terrorism, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. Now, federal agents say that KindHearts has been funneling money to Hamas, the Islamist group that just won a majority in the Palestinian parliament.
Jordanians charged with Israel attack plot
AMMAN - The state prosecutor has indicted five Jordanians on charges of plotting to attack Israel, according to a charge sheet published on February 21. Alleged ringleader Khaled Mohammed, 29, is accused of having sold his wife's jewelry to buy three Kalashnikov rifles and ammunition that he planned to use in the attack. Mohammed recruited the other men and trained them on using the rifles amid plans to infiltrate Israel from the northern border with Jordan, but the five were arrested earlier this year after a tip-off.
PKK press Turkey for talks after Hamas
ANKARA - The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) called on Turkey on February 21 to agree to dialogue with their group, accusing Ankara of "double standards" since it had engaged in similar talks with the radical Palestinian group Hamas. "Why does not [Turkish foreign minister Abdullah] Gul spend efforts to stop bloodshed in his own country? Is this not a contradiction?" asked senior PKK commander Murat Karayilan in an interview with the pro-Kurdish Firat News Agency.
'US tapped' two German agents during Iraq war
BERLIN - The German government suspects the US secret services of tapping the phone calls of two German intelligence agents stationed in Baghdad during the Iraq war, a local newspaper reported on February 21. The Leipziger Volkszeitung said that it was citing a government report on the BND, the German intelligences services abroad, that was due to be handed to a parliamentary commission on February 22. The newspaper said that the surveillance of the German agents gave the US military access to sensitive information while it was bombing Baghdad.
68 dead in Sudan cholera outbreak
CAIRO - The death toll from a suspected cholera outbreak in southern Sudan has risen to 68 but the fatality rate of the epidemic is on the decline, the UN's health agency said on February 21. "As of February 19, 2006, a total number of 2,933 cases and 68 deaths [case fatality rate 2.27 percent] of Acute Watery Diarrhea were reported in Southern Sudan," the World Health Organization said.
Eight wounded in Egypt clashes
CAIRO - Eight Egyptians were wounded on February 20 when clashes broke out between Muslims and Coptic Christians south of Cairo, police said. The violence erupted in the village of Ayat, some 24 kilometers (15 miles) south of Cairo, following Muslim anger over the construction by the local Christian minority of a center for their community, a police official said.
Rockets found near home of Hariri sister
SIDON, Lebanon - Seven rockets were found late on February 20 near the south Lebanon home of MP Bahia Hariri, sister of assassinated former premier Rafiq Hariri, police said. They said that a laborer found the rockets in a black plastic bag on the side of the road near the house in Majdelyoun, east of the port city of Sidon. An army bomb disposal expert who examined the rockets said that they were in good condition but not primed for firing.
'Technical failure' caused Egypt Flash air crash
CAIRO - The final report on the crash of a Flash Airlines plane carrying French tourists two years ago off the coast of Egypt cites a failure in the automatic pilot and guiding system, the official MENA news agency said on February 20. "The report points to faults in the automatic pilot and guiding system. There was not enough time for the pilot to counter" the problem, the agency said, quoting an official from the civil aviation authority.
Egypt Islamists raise funds for Hamas
CAIRO - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood announced on February 20 the launch of a fund-raising campaign to support the Palestinians after the United States and Europe threatened to freeze funding for a Hamas-led government. "Supporting Hamas is the responsibility of all the peoples of the free world and Arab world and not just the Muslim Brothers because it means supporting the democratic choice of the Palestinian people," Brotherhood spokesman Issam Al Aryan said.
EU to launch Damascus rights center
DAMASCUS - The European Union is on February 21 to open a human rights center in Damascus headed by a leading local activist, the bloc's delegation said. The "one-stop center" will train lawyers, journalists and others "to ensure that internationally adopted human rights laws are adhered to", the EU's Ambassador to Damascus Frank Hesske said in a statement on February 20. The center will be headed by prominent human rights lawyer Anwar Bunni.
Suicide bomber blows self up in error
JALALABAD, Afghanistan - A suspected suicide bomber blew himself up prematurely near a main road routinely used by government officials and foreign troops in eastern Afghanistan, police said on February 20. The man was blown to bits and only his leg and hat were found at the scene after the blast in eastern Nangarhar province on February 19, provincial police spokesman Ghafor Khan said.
Students march in Afghan cartoon protest
JALALABAD, Afghanistan - Around 2,000 Afghan students called for Islamic nations to cut ties with Denmark and burned an effigy of US President George W. Bush in a new protest on February 20 against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. The students at Nangarhar University in eastern Afghanistan also torched the Danish flag and paraded posters of Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Bush drawn as dogs.
Rice to help stop Hamas funds
JERUSALEM - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is heading to the Middle East to try to help block financial aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority. The Jerusalem Post said that the United States wants to strengthen the international front against Hamas and close possible loopholes to keeping international money from the group.
Sweden gives millions more in Palestinian aid
STOCKHOLM - Sweden's state-run aid group on February 20 pledged more than $6 million in additional aid to the Palestinian territories as Israel and the United States halted much of their funding following Hamas' election victory. "The humanitarian situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has worsened," the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) said in a statement, adding that it would provide 50 million kronor ($6.4 million) to the United Nations' aid programs there.
The additional aid was necessary since Israel was not living up to its responsibility as an occupying power, Peter Lundberg of SIDA's humanitarian unit said in a statement. "According to the fourth Geneva convention, the occupying power has a particular responsibility to support and ensure the human dignity of the occupied," he said. "Since Israel is not living up to its responsibility under international law, large parts of the Palestinian population are now completely dependent on international humanitarian aid," Lundberg added.
Egypt's Brotherhood fundraises to assist PA
CAIRO - Egypt's outlawed Muslim Brotherhood Organization has started a fundraising campaign to help finance the new Palestinian government to be formed by Hamas. Brotherhood spiritual guide in Egypt Mohammed Mehdi Akef said on February 20 that a global fundraising operation has started "with the aim of assisting the Palestinian people".
Noise bomb in Iran oil city of Ahvaz
TEHRAN - A noise bomb exploded in Ahvaz, in Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan province on February 19, breaking windows but causing no injuries, the official IRNA agency reported on February 20. IRNA quoted a provincial security official as saying that the bomb exploded at 21:45 local time (1815 GMT) and sparked fear among the people of Ahvaz, which has been plagued by a wave of unrest over the past year.
Syria slams US over opposition funding
DAMASCUS - Syria lashed out at the United States on February 19 over its plans to allocate $5 million to the Syrian opposition, announced last week. "This is meddling in Syria's internal affairs and we reject it," Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem told reporters. The US State Department said on February 17 that it would allocate $5 million to finance the Syrian opposition amid worsening relations between the two countries.
Muslim cleric sanctions nukes
TEHRAN - An influential Muslim cleric in Iran has allegedly issued a new fatwa, or holy order, sanctioning the use of nuclear weapons against its enemies. It is the first time that a hardline spiritual leader has questioned the traditional stance that Sharia law forbade the use of nuclear weapons, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
The Rooz Internet newspaper said that one senior mullah now says that it is "only natural" to have nuclear bombs as a "countermeasure" against other nuclear powers. The ruling came from Mohsen Gharavian, a disciple of the ultraconservative Ayatollah Mohammed Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, who is widely regarded as the cleric closest to Iran's new president, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, the Sunday Telegraph said.
Policeman killed in cash heist in Kabul
KABUL - A policeman was killed and another wounded in shootouts in the Afghan capital on February 19 with an armed gang that held up a vehicle transferring cash and made off with $320,000, police said. The vehicle was moving the money from the Habib Bank to a branch of Standard Chartered in the city center when five armed men opened fire, wounding a police guard, the interior ministry media office said.
Six victims of German plane crash found in Iraq
BUSHEIN, Iraq - The bodies of the six people on board a German business jet that crashed in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq were found on February 19, a Kurdish government official said. Wreckage of the business jet that crashed last week was also found near the village of Bushein in Arbat region, some 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the city of Sulaimaniyah.
Iran launches new hunt for illegal Afghans
TEHRAN - Iran will this week launch a new drive to track down Afghan nationals residing illegally in the Islamic republic amid persistent problems in sending back registered Afghan refugees, an official said on February 19. The deputy interior minister in charge of immigrants, Ahmad Hosseini, told reporters a three-month investigation - likely to be followed by mass expulsions - would begin on February 20 in the hope of reducing the estimated 1 million illegals in the country.
Afghan drowns after dinghy sinks off Greece
ATHENS - An Afghan immigrant drowned and five others were arrested after their inflatable dinghy capsized as they rowed across a narrow strait between Turkey and Greece, the Greek merchant marine ministry said on February 19. The five told police that they set off from the Turkish coast to cross the eight-kilometer (five-mile) wide Chios strait to Greek territory but their craft sank 30 meters from shore.
Strong earthquake jolts Iran
TEHRAN - A powerful earthquake registering 5.3 on the Richter scale hit southern Iran on February 18, causing some material damage but no casualties, state television reported. The quake hit an area in Kerman province between the towns of Rafsanjan and Anar, situated around 600 kilometers (380 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran. State television said that there were reports of "insignificant damage" but added that there were no reports of any deaths or injuries.
Iran confirms 135 dead swans had Avian flu
TEHRAN - Iran's Veterinary Organization confirmed on February 18 that a batch of 135 dead swans found in the northern province of Gilan have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu. The cases are the first time that the virus has been detected in the Islamic republic.
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