A regularly updated column of news briefs from around the region
Iran rejects Annan's call for talks with US
TEHRAN - Iran on May 7 rejected a call from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for Washington to enter direct talks with Iran over its disputed nuclear program. "It's obvious that all these artificial crises have been created by the US, which is against Iran's independence. So there is not need to have the US in these talks," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.
"The US is not ready for equal dialogue. They want to have others on their side through intimidation. So we think there are no conditions to enter into a respectful dialogue," Asefi said.
Seven kidnapped south of Baghdad
BAGHDAD - Seven people, including three police commandos, were kidnapped in a series of abductions south of Baghdad on May 6, police said. Gunmen kidnapped the commandos as they were on their way to work in the town of Al Mahawil, 90 kilometers (56 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. The other four, including two truck drivers, were also kidnapped in Mahawil in two separate incidents. Two policemen were also wounded in a roadside bombing in southern Baghdad, a security official said.
Afghan tribal chief, son and bodyguard shot dead
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Suspected Taliban rebels shot dead a key Afghan tribal chief, his son and his bodyguard in the country's restive south, officials said on May 5. Chieftain Haji Lala and the other two were killed when gunmen ambushed their vehicle in troubled Helmand province on May 4, provincial spokesman Moheedin Khan said. The attack occurred in Grishk district, where authorities on May 3 found the beheaded body of a policeman kidnapped and killed a day earlier, allegedly by the Taliban. "They were attacked by Taliban," Khan said. Lala was an influential tribal chief and was the cousin of parliamentarian and former Helmand governor Sher Mohammad Akhundzada.
Israel criticizes Sweden over visa for Hamas minister
JERUSALEM - Israel on May 5 criticized as helping to "legitimize terrorism" a Swedish decision to grant an entry visa to a Hamas cabinet minister to attend a conference about exiled Palestinians. "Israel regrets this decision, which to our great regret helps to legitimize a terrorist organization," foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev said. "The best way to bring about necessary change it to stick to the conditions imposed by the European Union and this visa is not going to help this process," Regev added. Swedish media reported that Palestinian refugee affairs minister Atef Adwan had been granted a visa to attend a conference in Malmoe, southern Sweden.
Iraqi Kurdistan warns guerrillas against war with Turkey, Iran
SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq - Authorities in northern Kurdistan on May 5 warned rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) against waging war against Turkey or Iran from Iraqi territory. "They [PKK] are in our land. We want them to respect the law and not use our territory to stage attacks" against Iran or Turkey, said Imad Ahmed, deputy prime minister of northern Kurdistan's Sulaimaniyah province. "We want them to leave our country but in peace, not in war. If they want to stay they have to use politics not weapons." Ahmed Said that the region hoped to have good relations with Turkey and Iran.
Swastikas painted on Israeli synagogue
PETAH TIKVAH, Israel - Nazi swastikas were on May 4 daubed in paint across the walls and on the bibles in the main synagogue in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva, police said. A group of teenagers belonging to a neo-Nazi group was thought to be behind the desecration of the synagogue, according to national police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld. "A number of swastikas were found drawn on the walls and books of the synagogue. We suspect a group of youngsters, possibly connected to a neo-Nazi group," Rosenfeld said.
Turkish agency offers first tour of Greek Cyprus for three decades
ISTANBUL - An Istanbul-based travel agency said on May 4 that it was inaugurating tours from Turkey to the Greek sector of Cyprus for the first time since 1974, when Turkey militarily occupied the north of the island. The first group of 20 tourists is scheduled to fly to the Greek Cypriot port of Larnaca on May 19 via Athens, Ibrahim Habes, general manager of Karetta Travel, told Anatolia news agency. "There is huge interest ... People are curious about southern Cyprus," he said, adding that the tours would be organized once a week.
Tunisia also seeking nuclear technology
TUNIS - Nuclear technology fever is sweeping the Middle East and North Africa, as Tunisia has said that it is considering the construction of a nuclear plant. Minister of scientific research and technology Al Tayeb Hazri said on May 4 that his government is studying the possibility of setting up a nuclear plant to produce electricity. Speaking before parliament during a debate of the basic by-laws of the Arab Agency for Nuclear Energy, Hazri said that studies have been conducted in the past to determine the feasibility of building such a plant. His ministry is currently studying the location and financing of the plant that would produce 600 megawatts of nuclear energy at a cost of $1.14 billion, Hazri said.
Lebanon bars Taiwanese president's stopover
BEIRUT - The Lebanese authorities prevented Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian's plane from landing in Beirut on May 4 after a strong protest from China, a government source said. Instead, his plane landed at Abu Dhabi airport, Taiwanese television stations reported, although this was not confirmed by officials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). "If this is true, then the stop must have been for refueling and not for a visit," an Emirati official said. "The UAE and Taiwan do not have diplomatic ties, but Taiwan has a commercial bureau in the UAE, just like in all other countries, and Beijing has no objections to that," the official added, asking not to be named.
Iran arrests rebels in restive border regions
TEHRAN - Iranian armed forces have arrested four Sunni Muslim rebels near its borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan and three Kurdish rebels close to the frontier with Iraq, a government newspaper said on May 4. The rebels from Sistan-Baluchestan, a major thoroughfare for drugs smuggled from Pakistan and Afghanistan, were identified as members of Jundallah (Army of God) - a hardline Sunni militant group opposed to Iran's Shia clerical regime. The Iran newspaper also said that a "large weapons cache" was found. Sunnis form the majority in Baluchestan, although Shia Islam is Iran's official religion.
Persian Gulf no longer 'safe' for US
TEHRAN - Iran's interior minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi said on May 3 that the Gulf region is no longer safe for the "enemy", a clear reference to the United States. Pour-Mohammadi told journalists in the capital Tehran, "The Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman are the hunting ground for the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran. If any force with any military might try to maneuver in this region, it will not be out of range of our armed forces and weaponry." "The Persian Gulf is no longer a safe place for our enemies. Our enemies can not tolerate this situation."
Egypt detains 23 opposition activists
CAIRO - Egyptian police on May 4 detained 23 activists from the Muslim Brotherhood who were campaigning against state of emergency laws, a leader for the opposition Islamist movement said. "They were arrested at dawn as they were putting up posters and banners denouncing the renewal of the state of emergency," deputy leader of the Muslim Brothers Mohammed Habib said. Another 25 had been detained a week earlier for the same reason. On April 30 the Egyptian parliament renewed the country's decades-old emergency laws for another two years, in a move that sparked condemnations from opposition movements and rights groups.
Kurdish activists with Swedish citizenship arrested in Turkey
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey - Two alleged Kurdish activists with dual Turkish-Swedish citizenship have been arrested here on charges of spreading propaganda for separatist Kurdish rebels, judicial officials said on May 4. A court in Diyarbakir, the biggest city in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, ordered the arrests of Ibrahim Guclu and Zeynel Abidin Ozalp on charges that a press statement that they had made amounted to propaganda for the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). A third person was also arrested. Guclu and Ozalp were members of a Kurdish cultural association that the authorities banned last month on grounds that a provision in its statute calling for the use of the Kurdish language in its activities was unlawful.
Iranian army retracts Israel strike threat
TEHRAN - Iran's top army brass on May 4 retracted a threat made earlier this week that the Islamic republic would target Israel if it came under US attack over its nuclear program. According to General Alireza Afshar, a deputy chief of general staff in charge of propaganda, the warning made last week by a lower-ranking spokesman carries "no value in the eyes of the Iranian armed forces". On May 2, Rear Admiral Mohammad Ebrahim Dehqani told the ISNA news agency that "if America gets up to mischief, Israel will be our first target to hit". But Afshar said "his comments only represent his personal point of view".
Turkish press groups urge government to drop planned media restrictions
ANKARA - Turkish media groups accused the government on May 3 of backtracking on pledges for more democracy, urging the abolition of draft amendments in an anti-terror law that critics say could land many journalists in jail. "The government has used up the credit for its achievements in democratization as part of the European Union [candidacy] process," said a joint statement by 12 press associations and unions on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day. "The government must give up plans for archaic legal arrangements that backtrack on progress achieved over the past few years regarding freedom of press and expression," it said.
Iranian intellectual arrested
TEHRAN - A leading Iranian intellectual, Ramin Jahanbegloo, has been arrested and is facing a number of undisclosed charges, a reformist newspaper reported on May 3. Jahanbegloo is a prominent thinker and writer on democracy and non-violence, with a doctorate from the Sorbonne in Paris. The reason for his arrest and his continued detention in Tehran's Evin prison were not given. "There are several indictments. At the end of the interrogation, the charges will be made public," a judiciary official told the Etemad-Melli newspaper. On May 3, Iran's main reformist party said that it was "worried" over the arrest of Jahanbegloo.
Swedes appeal for journalist in Eritrean jail
STOCKHOLM - Nine Swedish and international organizations marked World Press Freedom Day on May 3 with a public rally here to press for the release from custody of a journalist held in prison in Eritrea for over four years. Dawit Isaac, an Eritrean with Swedish citizenship who was arrested in September 2001, is one of a dozen people who were detained and accused of being Ethiopian traitors and spies. "He has been in prison for 1,683 days," said Leif Oebrink, head of a support committee. "He must be released ... and that must happen immediately because he is a prisoner of conscience according to [rights group] Amnesty International."
Four killed in accidental Cairo blast
CAIRO - Four Egyptians were killed and another wounded when a device accidentally exploded on May 3 at a mechanical workshop in the low-income Cairo neighborhood of Imbaba, security sources said. An 18-year-old mechanic, Radi Mahmoum Abdel Latif, was using the silver-coated metal device to try to unscrew part of a car when it went off, killing him, two other mechanics and the car's owner. Abdel Latif's brother and owner of the workshop, Mohammed Mahmoud Abdel Latif Abu Radi, reportedly told police that he had bought the device from a scrap metal merchant and had no idea that it was explosive.
Kuwaiti court delays verdict in trial of 36 Qaeda suspects
KUWAIT CITY - A Kuwaiti appeals court on May 3 delayed issuing a verdict in the trial of 36 alleged Al Qaeda militants, saying that the conspiracy charges could contravene the constitution. Judge Ibrahim Al Obeid said that the case would be referred to the constitutional court to decide whether the conspiracy to commit a criminal act outlined in Article 56 of the penal code applied to the defendants. He said that the question was whether those who did not actually commit a crime could be made to bear the guilt of those who carried out the act. The defendants are accused of being members of the Al Qaeda-linked "Peninsula Lions Brigades" that was allegedly behind deadly gunfights with police in January 2005.
Turkey warns France ties could be hit by Armenian genocide bill
ANKARA - Turkey warned France on May 3 that bilateral ties could suffer if the French parliament adopts a bill that would criminalize any denial that Armenians massacred during World War I were victims of genocide. "In our meetings [with French officials], we stress that adoption of the bill could lead to irreparable damage in long-standing Turkish-French ties and that this should not be allowed," foreign ministry spokesman Namik Tan told a press conference here. Tan said that Ankara is doing everything it can to block the bill, adding that the French government is doing the same.
Foreigners in Bahrain targeted
SITRA, Bahrain - The vehicles of Asian expatriate worker were targeted in an arson attack south of the capitol of Manama. Reports said that masked men burned the seven vehicles parked in a compound housing more than 200 Asian expatriate workers. Bahrain's government has vowed to track down the arsonists. No one was injured in the incident. Al Bawaba news agency reported on May 1 that Bahraini police closed off Sitra, south of the capital Manama, where the incident occurred. Interior minister Sheikh Rashid Bin Abdullah Al Khalifa said, "Police patrols are well armed and well equipped to meet all dangers and challenges menacing their lives and those of citizens."
Ethiopia urged to release prisoners
ADDIS ABABA - Amnesty International on May 2 urged the Ethiopian government to immediately release several "prisoners of conscience" who face trial on treason charges. The 76 accused include opposition parliament members, human rights defenders and journalists. The London-based human rights group said that these prisoners "have not used or advocated violence". They were arrested in November following opposition demonstrations against the government over alleged electoral fraud in the elections. Amnesty International expressed concerns about whether the accused will receive a fair trial. "This very worrying trial has major implications for human rights, media freedom and democratization in Ethiopia," said the director of Amnesty International's Africa Program.
Sudan tops annual 'Failed States' list
WASHINGTON - The second list of "Failed States" by Foreign Affairs magazine on May 2 ranked Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ivory Coast in the top three spots. The magazine used 12 social, economic, political and military indicators to rank 146 countries in order of their vulnerability to violent internal conflict and societal dysfunction. Six of the 10 most vulnerable states and 11 of the top 20 are in Africa. At the bottom of the list, the three most stable countries were Finland, Sweden and Norway, the magazine said in its May-June edition.
Qatar to give $60mn to hurricane victims
DOHA - Qatar's $100-million aid package to victims of Hurricane Katrina will include $17.5 million to New Orleans' Xavier University of Louisiana. The grant is part of the initial $60 million that Qatar has planned to give out of its $100 million pledge. Xavier University is the only historically black Catholic university in the United States, The New York Times reported on May 2. Grants also will go to Tulane University, Children's Hospital in New Orleans, Habitat for Humanity, Louisiana State University and the March of Dimes, the report said.
Israeli customs finds military equipment
ASHDOD, Israel - Israeli inspectors discovered a shipping container on May 2 destined for Gaza that contained 300 telescopes suitable for military rifles. The container, shipped from China, was labeled as sewing notions, hats and clocks, Ynetnews.com reported. Instead, a scanner detected the telescopes, some of them equipped with sights and infrared markings. "We are speaking of a quantity that could upgrade the fighting capability of a whole brigade in the Palestinian Authority security forces," the Customs Service said in a statement. "A telescope of this kind, fitted on an M-16 rifle, for example, improves the death ability of the weapon," customs officials said."
Jordanian bar refuses to name defense lawyer in hotel bombings
AMMAN - Jordan's Bar Association on May 3 rejected a request by the state security court to appoint a defense lawyer for an Iraqi woman and would-be suicide bomber in hotel attacks in the capital last year. "The responsibility of appointing a defense lawyer for the accused is yours and not ours," Bar Association president Saleh Armouti said in a letter to the head of the tribunal. Armouti, who is also a member of the defense team of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, criticized the court for having failed to assign a lawyer from the onset of the case against Sajida Al Rishawi. Rishawi is the only person standing trial for the November 9 attacks that killed 60 people.
Bad booze kills 15 in Iran
TEHRAN - Fifteen people have died in southern Iran after drinking homemade alcohol apparently laced with the poisonous chemical methanol, the Kayhan newspaper reported on May 3. "Six people from Arzuyeh region, intoxicated by homemade alcohol, were brought in. Two died and one is blind," the director of Sirjan hospital, Ali Fakher, told the paper. "Thirteen other people had died in the days before that," he added. The production and consumption of alcohol has been banned in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Nevertheless, the making of potent home brews and the illegal import of beverages is common.
Beirut seeks UN extension of Hariri murder inquest
BEIRUT - Lebanon will ask the United Nations to extend for 12 months the mandate of the international commission probing the murder of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, the press reported on May 3. Justice minister Charles Rizk was quoted as saying that the extension from a June 15 expiry was necessary for the United Nations to complete its investigation and establish an international court to try those involved. The request was decided at a cabinet meeting on the night of May 2. Earlier this year, a report issued by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for the establishment of a tribunal composed of Lebanese and foreign judges.
Egypt reports new human case of bird flu
CAIRO - Egypt reported a new human case of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza on May 3, bringing to 13 the total number of Egyptians who have been infected by the deadly virus. The health ministry said that the new case was detected in a 27-year-old woman who was infected by poultry from her domestic rearing in the Nile Delta governorate of Menufiya. "The tests carried out by the health ministry have confirmed that it was the H5N1 virus," Abdel Sabur Shahin said, adding that the woman had been hospitalized and was in stable condition.
Beirut asks Syria to remove border posts inside Lebanon
BEIRUT - Lebanon decided on May 2 to ask Damascus to dismantle military positions and sand berms that Syrian border guards have erected inside Lebanese territory, interior minister Ahmed Fatfat said. "We have asked the governor of the Bekaa [in eastern Lebanon], Antoine Soleiman, to promptly engage in contacts with the governor of the suburbs of Damascus to ask him ... to remove the sand berms, which have all been placed on Lebanese territory," he said. He told reporters that the berms have been set up in areas stretching between one and four kilometers (2.5 miles) into Lebanese territory, in the remote regions of Aarssal and Ras Baalbek.
Syria detains official of banned communist party
DAMASCUS - Syrian security officials detained an official of the banned Party for Communist Action as he returned home from a European tour, human rights lawyer Anwar Bunni said on May 2. "Fateh Jamous was arrested on arrival at Damascus airport yesterday [May 1]," Bunni said. Jamous already spent 15 years in Syrian prisons from 1982 to 1997, three years longer than he was originally sentenced to by the courts for illegal political activity. During his European tour, he met with other opposition figures, including exiled leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, outlawed on pain of death here since 1980.
One dead as illegal immigrant boat sinks off Turkey
ANKARA - A man drowned after a boat carrying 10 illegal immigrants sank off Turkey's western coast while trying to reach neighboring Greece, Turkey's Anatolia news agency reported on May 2. The coast guard rescued eight other immigrants from the sea after receiving an alert from witnesses who saw the boat list and take in water after it set off from the popular Turkish resort of Kusadasi to the nearby Greek island of Samos. Rescuers were searching the waters for the remaining missing immigrant.
Outed US spy was researching Iran nuclear program
WASHINGTON - Former undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame, whose outing sparked a major scandal rocking the White House, was working to track Iran's nuclear program before her name was revealed in 2003, according to US media. MSNBC television reporter David Shuster said on May 1 that leaking of her identity as a CIA spy to reporters damaged the US effort to follow what Washington believes are Iranian efforts to develop nuclear weapons. "Intelligence sources say Valerie Wilson was part of an operation three years ago tracking the proliferation of nuclear weapons material into Iran. And the sources allege that when Mrs. Wilson's cover was blown, the administration's ability to track Iran's nuclear ambitions was damaged as well," Shuster said on the "Hardball" program.
Cholera suspected as 10 die in Ethiopia
ADDIS ABABA - At least 10 people have died in the past two weeks in western Ethiopia following a diarrhea outbreak suspected to be due to cholera, health officials said on May 1. Turuwork Tafesse, director of disease surveillance, said that the 10 died in the western Gambella region, where the French charity Doctors Without Border (MSF) said that 286 people have been admitted in the last week alone. "We suspect cholera, but we haven't confirmed it yet," Turuwork said, adding that samples had been taken for analysis. "It is a concern for us," said William Robertson, MSF's representative in Ethiopia. "We are at the very early stage of an intervention that could last three or four months."
Kuwait hangs five in biggest group execution in 16 years
KUWAIT CITY - Three Kuwaitis and an Indian convicted of murder and a Pakistani found guilty of drug trafficking were hanged in Kuwait on May 2, the largest number of executions in a single day in 16 years. The five men were hanged inside the interior ministry building in Kuwait City before dozens of spectators were allowed to view their hooded corpses. Farraj Al Rukaibi, a Kuwaiti, was convicted of raping and murdering a Pakistani girl and of raping an Egyptian girl after abducting them both. Another Kuwaiti, Mohammed Al Shimmari, was convicted of abducting an Asian maid and then raping her after she died.
Saad Al Mutairi, also a Kuwaiti, was convicted of shooting two Asian maids dead when he tried to rob their employer's house. Shukrallah Ansari, an Indian, was convicted of robbing and murdering his Kuwaiti employer in the desert, while Mian Mohammad Iqbal of Pakistan was convicted of smuggling a large quantity of drugs.
Islamic Jihad team holds talks in Cairo
GAZA CITY - A delegation from Islamic Jihad, the radical Palestinian faction behind the last eight anti-Israeli suicide attacks, is in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials, Jihad sources said on May 2. "A delegation arrived last night in Cairo from Damascus [where many Jihad leaders are based] to meet Egyptian officials," Khaled Al Batsh, one of Jihad's most senior figures in the Gaza Strip, said. Another Jihad official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the delegation was led by the movement's deputy general secretary Ziad Nakhala. "The visit intends to improve relations between Jihad and Egypt and unite Palestinian and Arab efforts on the Palestinian problem," the source said.
Iran jails two Swedes for spying
TEHRAN - An Iranian court has jailed two Swedes for three years for photographing military installations, justice minister Jamal Karimi-Rad told the student news agency ISNA on May 2. In the Islamic republic, the crime of espionage can carry the death penalty. The pair had appeared before a revolutionary court in the Gulf port of Bandar Abbas on April 22, charged with taking pictures of military sites, naval facilities and telecommunication posts on the island of Qeshm. The Swedish daily Aftonbladet identified the two men as construction workers aged between 30 and 40. The Swedish foreign ministry earlier said that its Tehran embassy was "working intensively" to secure the pair's release.
Filipina held after severing penis of abusive Saudi boss
RIYADH - A Saudi man was recovering in hospital after having his penis sewn back on by surgeons but the Philippine maid who chopped it off when he sexually assaulted her is under arrest, reports said on May 1. The maid's 38-year-old employer assaulted her while his wife was asleep, the Okaz daily said. She grabbed a knife from the kitchen to defend herself and used it when he persisted despite having it brandished in his face, the paper said. He is now recuperating after successful surgery in a specialist hospital in Riyadh, while she has been detained for questioning, it added, without identifying either party.
Bahrain's main opposition to participate in polls
MANAMA - Bahrain's main Shia opposition group said on May 1 that it would take part in legislative polls in October, ending a four-year boycott that left Sunnis dominating the kingdom's parliament. The Islamic National Accord Association (INAA) said in a statement that its consultative council accepted its general assembly's recommendation to participate in the parliamentary elections in light of the "benefits that could be made through taking part". Four opposition groups, including the INAA, boycotted the last parliamentary elections in 2002. "The [decision to] participate in the parliamentary elections is not based on [our] confidence in the legislative authorities of the parliament ... but it is a political practice that should be utilized to the utmost," said the statement.
Conviction of Armenian journalist in Turkey overturned
ANKARA - A court in Ankara on May 1 overturned on appeal the conviction of an Armenian journalist in Turkey, accused of insulting the Turkish identity, the Anatolia news agency reported. Hrant Dink, publisher of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, was sentenced to a suspended six-month sentence in October by a court in Istanbul for an article published in February 2004. The article about the massacre of Armenians during World War I in Turkey called on Armenians "to turn now to the new blood of an independent Armenia, which alone is capable of liberating the Armenian diaspora" and to reject any Turkish roots.
Blank Afghan passports stolen from embassy in Belgium
LYON, France - Unidentified thieves have stolen an undisclosed number of blank passports from Afghanistan's embassy in Belgium, Interpol said on May 1. The organization, based in Lyon, France, said that the numbers and details of the documents had been transmitted to its 184 member countries to help them detect them should they be used to cross borders. According to a statement from the international police organization, the theft occurred on April 26. Some official embassy seals were also stolen. Details of the break-in and the number of passports stolen were not given. Interpol has said that between 10 million and 15 million stolen passports are currently circulating in the world, hindering the fight against terrorism and organized crime.
Thief snatches filmmaker Amos Gitai's laptop and script
GENEVA - A bag snatcher stole Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai's laptop computer and the outlines of a script for a forthcoming film during a visit to Switzerland, his producer said on May 1. "Two years of ideas have disappeared in one go," said Jean-Louis Porchet of CAB Productions. Gitai's computer containing the screenplay ideas was in a bag that was stolen from his scriptwriter Marie-Jo Sanselme while she was waiting outside Geneva railway station on April 28. Local police said that Sanselme tried to give chase, but the young thief escaped into a nearby neighborhood.
Jailed spy seeks to block Israel minister
JERUSALEM - A former Pentagon official who was jailed in the US for passing secrets to Israel petitioned the high court on May to block the appointment of his old Mossad handler to the incoming coalition cabinet. In the petition, Jonathan Pollard claimed that Pensioners party leader Rafi Eitan should not be allowed to serve in government as he had "betrayed" him and acted "unethically" over his arrest for spying two decades ago. The petition is not thought to have much chance of holding up the appointment of the government on May 4, however, as it concedes that Eitan did not commit any criminal offense.
One Palestinian killed in Lebanon clash
SIDON, Lebanon - One Palestinian was killed and two others wounded in clashes in a refugee camp in southern Lebanon between the mainstream Fatah faction and a militant Islamist group, security sources said on May 1. The sources said that a member of the Islamist Jund Al Sham group named Abu Jandal shot with his revolver at a Fatah supporter, shooting him in the foot but also killing a bystander, Mohammed Awad. Awad is said to be a relation of Mounir Maqdah, a Fatah security official resident in the camp, whose supporters had earlier launched a machine-gun attack on a Jund Al Sham post, wounding one of its activists.
Gang activity seen in US troops in Iraq
BAGHDAD - A growing amount of US gang-related graffiti and activity is being reported among US troops in Iraq, The Chicago Sun-Times reported on May 1. "I have identified 320 soldiers as gang members from April 2002 to present," said Scott Barfield, a Defense Department gang detective at Fort Lewis, Wash. "I think that's the tip of the iceberg." No one has been arrested for a gang-related felony on the base, Barfield said, but some are suspected of criminal activity off the Washington base, he said. Meanwhile, graffiti for such Chicago gangs as the Gangster Disciples, Latin Kings and Vice Lords is showing up in Iraq on military buildings and vehicles.
Israel population tops 7mn
JERUSALEM - Israel's population has topped 7 million, the central statistics bureau said on May 1 in figures released to mark the state's upcoming 58th Independence Day. The total population, which was 806,000 when modern-day Israel was created in 1948, now stands at 7,026,000, according to the statistics. Jewish residents in Israel number 5.33 million, making up 76 percent of the population, while Arab inhabitants total 1.39 million, or 20 percent. The other 4 percent are made up of Druze and other minority groups. In the last calendar year, the population has increased by 118,000 people.
Iraqi VP: 100,000 families now refugees
BAGHDAD - Despite US military claims to the contrary, Iraqi Vice-President Adel Abdel Mahdi says that as many as 100,000 Iraqi families have become refugees. That could represent as many as 500,000 people, and is much higher than other Iraqi officials have estimated, The New York Times reported on May 1. Last week Iraqi national security advisor Mowaffaq Al Rubaie said that 13,750 families - about 70,000 to 80,000 people - had been displaced by sectarian fighting. Mahdi did not disclose his source for the higher estimate, however. US Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, says that reports of a huge number of displaced persons and refugees appear to be overblown.
Iran arrests more oil-city bombers
TEHRAN - Iranian security forces have arrested 25 people suspected of involvement in a double bomb attack in January in the southwestern oil capital of Ahvaz, the ISNA news agency reported on May 1. "The main agents in the latest Ahvaz bombings have all been arrested and their cases are being dealt with," the city's prosecutor, Iraj Amirkhani, was quoted as saying. The first bomb in the city - dominated by ethnic minority Arabs and capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province - was in front of a private bank and busy commercial area. The second targeted a government building.
Iran workers in rare protest on May Day
TEHRAN - A few thousand angry Iranian workers held a rare protest in Tehran on May 1, using international Labor Day to press demands for more jobs, better contracts and the payment of wage arrears. The gathering had been organized by the Islamic regime to show off public support for its disputed nuclear drive but quickly transformed into a protest over economic conditions. Several people chanted "To strike is our undeniable right!" and "Permanent employment is our undeniable right!" "Under the temporary contracts, there is no job security. You can be fired any minute. And if you complain, employers say 'take it or leave it'," said Esmail Ramezanzadeh, 48, who works in a cooking oil factory.
45 injured in Egypt train crash
CAIRO - Forty-five people were injured on May 1 in a train collision in the northern Egyptian governorate of Sharqiya, a police source said. A cargo train traveling from Zagazig toward Cairo crashed into a stationary passenger train at 11 am (0800 GMT) near the Nile Delta village of Shat, the source said. None of the injuries were believed to be life-threatening. Egyptian transport minister Mohammed Mansour, together with a team of officials and technicians, headed to the scene shortly after the collision "to survey the damages and check on the injured", Egypt's official MENA agency reported.
Seven cars torched in mysterious Bahrain attacks
MANAMA - Seven cars were torched in Bahrain overnight between April 30 to May 1, the day after two policemen were wounded in a Molotov cocktail attack, the interior ministry said. "Seven cars belonging to real estate companies were destroyed in a premeditated fire at an unguarded parking lot ... on Sutra island," on the Bahraini archipelago, said a ministry statement. Regional police Colonel Abdel Aziz Al Banaali said that security forces were seeking the unknown perpetrators. A petrol bomb attack in a predominantly Shia area of western Manama the previous night left two policemen wounded and their car destroyed.
Jordan sends 27 aid lorries to Palestinians
KARNI CROSSING, Gaza Strip - Twenty-seven lorry-loads of food and medical equipment arrived in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from Jordan on May 1, officials said. A total of 17 trucks brought aid to Gaza while a further 10 made deliveries to the West Bank, the head of the Jordanian diplomatic mission in Gaza, Yahya Al Qarali, said. The aid that had been brought to Gaza would be delivered to the main Shiffa hospital in Gaza City where doctors have said that they are running low on vital equipment. The Palestinian Authority is facing a mounting financial crisis after the EU and US froze direct aid payments to the government now that it is led by Hamas.
Kuwait revokes law restricting public gatherings
KUWAIT CITY - Kuwait's Constitutional Court on May 1 revoked a 27-year-old law that restricted public gatherings in the oil-rich Gulf emirate, a lawyer said. The Public Gatherings Law was abolished by Kuwait's highest court, Najeeb Al Wagayan, a lawyer for two Kuwaitis who were taken to court by authorities in 2004 for violating the legislation, said. The law was issued by decree in 1979 by the late emir Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah at a time when the elected parliament was suspended. It required citizens to obtain prior authorization from authorities before holding public meetings or rallies. The abolition of the law means that Kuwaitis now only need to notify authorities of a public meeting or march.
Beirut bread demo marks May Day
BEIRUT - More than 5,000 people marched through Beirut on May 1 to celebrate May Day, carrying loafs of bread in protest against government policies in a country suffering deep economic and political crises. Demonstrators at the rally organized by the Communist party waved Lebanese and red Communist flags as well as banners denouncing "corruption, confessionalism and indebtedness". Lebanon's economy has still not fully recovered from the devastation of a 1975-90 civil war. As political rows continue to stall long-awaited reforms, public debt has spiraled to $38.6 billion, or about 180 percent of gross domestic product.
35 hurt in Egypt train crash
CAIRO - Thirty-five people were injured in Egypt on May 1 when a goods train crashed into a stationary passenger train north of Cairo, police said. Transport minister Mohammed Mansour, together with a team of officials and technicians, headed to the scene of the accident near the Nile Delta village of Alshat "to survey the damage and check on the injured", the official news agency MENA reported. None of the injuries were believed to be life-threatening.
20 detained in May Day demo in Turkey
ISTANBUL - Turkish riot police on May 1 detained some 20 leftwing protestors who gathered to mark May Day in a venue banned by authorities in Istanbul, the Anatolia news agency reported. Truncheon-wielding riot police swooped down on the demonstrators at Taksim square, the heart of the shopping and entertainment district on the city's European side, when they refused to disperse. Footage broadcast on the NTV news channel showed the protestors resisting arrest by hitting officers with sticks and police retaliating with tear gas and truncheons. Some protestors were injured in the scuffles and all were taken into custody, according to the news reports.
Bodies switched in Kuwait morgue
KUWAIT CITY - Hospital officials say that workers at a Kuwaiti morgue accidentally swapped the body of Australian Army Pvt. Jake Kovco with that of a Bosnian contractor. Workers at the Sabah Hospital morgue confused 25-year-old Kovco's body with that of Juso Sinanovic, a 47-year-old civilian employee from Sarajevo, who died 10 days ago, The Weekend Australian reported on April 30. Sinanovic's body was placed in a casket prepared for Kovco, which was sealed and flown to Australia. "The mistake was made inside the morgue and not before," hospital worker Abdullah Fahd said. "It happened when they were preparing both men to be sent back to their countries."
Arab League approves medical aid for Palestinians
CAIRO - The Arab League approved $150,000 in emergency medical aid to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority on April 30, secretary-general Amr Moussa said. The approval followed "several appeals from the Palestinian health ministry noting the difficult situation facing Palestinian hospitals and their need for medicines and medical supplies", Moussa said in a statement. The Syrian authorities meanwhile began collecting donations for the Palestinians as part of a campaign first announced by foreign minister Walid Al Muallem during a visit by his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Al Zahar earlier this month, the official SANA news agency reported.
Two Bahraini policemen wounded in petrol bomb attack
MANAMA - Two Bahraini policemen were wounded and their vehicle burned after a petrol bomb attack overnight in western Manama, the interior ministry said on April 30. The attack happened in a predominantly Shia area and the incident was under investigation, according to the interior ministry statement. "The perpetrators escaped ... the investigation is ongoing to find out who is behind this despicable crime," it said. The Islamic National Accord Association (INAA), the main political formation of Bahrain's majority Shia Muslims, was quick to condemn the attack. "This attack is rejected by all segments of Bahraini society because it undermines law and order and security," INAA said in a statement.
US journalist jailed for torture in Afghanistan is freed
KABUL - An American journalist jailed on torture charges was freed on April 30, two months earlier than expected, officials said. Edward Caraballo, 44, and two other US citizens, Jonathan Idema and Brent Bennett, were found guilty in September 2004 of running a private prison in Kabul and torturing at least eight Afghans in a vigilante counter-terror operation. Caraballo initially was sentenced to eight years but later had that reduced to two years. He had said during his trial that he was a freelance journalist making a documentary on Idema and Bennett.
Al Qaeda targets Palestinian leaders
JERUSALEM - Palestinian Authority (PA) officials are putting strict security measures in place after reports that Al Qaeda is planning to kill top Fatah party leaders. The villa of PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah has been completely cordoned off, the Jerusalem Post reported on April 30. The newspaper said that a group calling itself Al Tawhid and Jihad (Unification and Holy War) distributed leaflets in the Gaza Strip threatening to kill a number of senior officials in the Fatah party. It is the first time that the group believed to be headed by Jordanian terrorist Abu Mussab Al Zarqawi has issued a leaflet in Gaza, the Post reported.
Sarandon reveals death threats
LONDON - Actress Susan Sarandon told an interviewer in London that she has been threatened with death for questioning US policy in Iraq. The longtime political activist said that she has been branded "a [Osama] Bin Laden lover" and made to feel isolated and frightened by death threats and verbal attacks. In an interview broadcast on April 30, Sarandon said that she believes that there should have been more debate before the war in 2003, but anyone who questioned US policy was labeled "un-American", the Independent reported. She said that the way that she and her family have been targeted by the media and the public was "horrifying".
Claim: US passed on killing Zarqawi
MELBOURNE - A 22-year CIA veteran said in Australia on April 30 that the United States passed up several chances to kill the Jordanian-born terrorist who heads Al Qaeda in Iraq. Former spy Mike Scheuer, who spent six years as head of the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit, told an Australian television interviewer that the Bush administration received detailed intelligence about Abu Mussab Al Zarqawi's training camp in Iraq well before the US-led invasion in 2003. Scheuer claimed that a July 2002 plan to destroy the camp lapsed because the US did not want to "give the Europeans the impression we were gunslingers", The Age newspaper reported.
Passenger plane makes emergency landing in Tehran
TEHRAN - An aged Iran Air Boeing 727 with 150 passengers on board was forced to make an emergency landing in Tehran on April 30 due to technical problems, state-run television reported. Iran Air's director general, Malek Barzegar-Seddigh, said that the plane was forced to return to the runway after taking off for the western city of Kermanshah. The passengers were able to take a later flight, he said, adding that experts were examining the 727. Iran's fleet of civilian and military aircraft regularly suffers crashes and technical problems, something that officials blame on US sanctions hampering the purchase of critical spare parts.
Bahraini rights group calls for better prison oversight
MANAMA - The Bahraini Association for Human Rights on April 29 called for better oversight of the small Gulf monarchy's prisons and proposed setting up a national committee. "The situation in Bahraini prisons has improved but we still have a long way to go ... We need a national committee to oversee prisons in which members of the civil society as well as the government would be represented," Sabika Al Najjar, the association's secretary-general, told a press conference. The association has issued for the first time a report on prison conditions in Bahrain.
Saudi Arabia and Yemen exchange prisoners
RIYADH - Saudi Arabia and Yemen on April 29 exchanged 27 prisoners wanted in each other's countries, the state news agency SPA reported. "In line with the security accord signed by Saudi Arabia and Yemen, 16 Saudis wanted by Saudi authorities in connection with several security-related cases were received on [April 29]," it said, quoting an interior ministry source. "In addition, Yemeni authorities were handed 11 Yemenis who have violated the kingdom's laws and are wanted by Yemen's security apparatus," it said, without giving details. Saudi Arabia has been battling suspected Al Qaeda militants since they launched a spate of bombings and shootings in the country in May 2003.
26 Asians killed in Saudi bus crash
RIYADH - Twenty-six Asians were killed and 19 injured when a bus transporting them to the Saudi holy city of Medina swerved off a bridge, a Saudi daily said on April 29 without specifying their nationalities. The accident took place early on April 28 on a bridge east of the Red Sea city of Jeddah, the Al Riyadh newspaper said. The bus fell as much as 10 meters (more than 30 feet), the paper added. In February, 13 Bangladeshi construction workers were killed and 17 injured when their bus hit the sidewall of an underpass near Riyadh.
Egyptian pleads guilty of smuggling people into US
WASHINGTON - An Egyptian man pleaded guilty on April 28 to smuggling at least 100 Middle Easterners into the United States, the Justice Department announced. Ashraf Ahmed Abdullah Bashar, 37, charged as much as $8,000 each to help men travel from Guatemala through Mexico and sneak into the United States on foot across the southwest border, according to a department statement. Abdullah ran the human trafficking operation between April 2001 and January 2002. "Among the ranks of human smuggling kingpins, Abdullah was one of our major targets," said Immigration and Customs Enforcement official Julie Myers.
Media watchdog slams Ethiopia over press crackdown
NEW YORK, NY, USA - A US-based media watchdog called on April 28 for the unconditional release of dozens of Ethiopian journalists arrested in a government crackdown and charged with treason and other capital crimes. A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which visited Ethiopia in March, noted an atmosphere of open "fear and suspicion" in press circles, with journalists reluctant to meet in public spaces or to use telephones that might be bugged. The CPJ report highlighted the case of at least 14 journalists being held in prison in Addis Ababa and undergoing trial on charges of treason and genocide that carry the death penalty.
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