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In the name of
Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Inews
Daily
Friday 3rd March
2006 - 2nd Safar 1427
Explosion at US consulate in
Karachi kills diplomat
A suicide bomber killed an American diplomat and three other people in the port city of Karachi yesterday on the eve of President George Bush's first visit to Pakistan. The blast tore through the rear car park of the Marriott hotel, 20 metres from the US consulate, wounding 52 people, propelling vehicles into the air and showering the streets with debris. The American diplomat, his driver and a Pakistani soldier who apparently tried to prevent the bomber reaching the consulate were killed immediately. An unidentified woman also died. Bush vowed to press ahead with his trip, the final leg of his south Asian tour, saying he would not be deterred by "terrorists and killers". Zionist military given free
rein
Israel says it has lifted all restrictions on its military and that it is intensifying its war against alleged terrorists, including al-Qaida. Ehud Olmert, the acting Zionist prime minister, made the statement yesterday, saying he would use an "iron fist" against Palestinian resistance fighters and al-Qaida. "I have issued an order to all the security forces of Israel to use special means to confront the buds of terrorist action," Olmert told a news conference in Jerusalem. "We are systematically intensifying our war" he added. In recent weeks, the Zionists have stepped up arrest raids in the West Bank and killed many Palestinians in Gaza. 36 dead in Iraq
attacks
Insurgent attacks across Iraq killed 36 people and wounded scores more in renewed violence yesterday as US occupation forces said they had captured 61 'rebels' linked to Al-Qaida. In one of the bloodiest attacks, at least five people were killed and eight wounded when a car bomb went off in the Shia-dominated Sadr City district of Baghdad, a security official said. In another attack in Baghdad, four people were killed and 11 wounded, mostly women, when a bomb exploded in a market in the mixed southeastern Jaafaraniya district. Meanwhile, the Iraqi authorities have announced a daytime ban on vehicles in Baghdad and surrounding areas today in response to the latest upsurge in violence. Algerian amnesty takes
effect
Algeria will pardon or reduce sentences for more than 2000 convicted or suspected Muslim fighters, the Justice Ministry has said, moving ahead with a government effort to turn the page on a brutal insurgency. Some 2100 suspects will benefit from pardons or an end to legal proceedings they faced it was reported yesterday. Another 100 fighters, convicted for severe crimes, will have their sentences reduced. The measures, which stem from a national reconciliation plan that was overwhelmingly approved in a September referendum, take effect immediately. Libya frees Brotherhood
members
Libya has released all 84 jailed members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement who had been held in the country since the late 1990s, according to official sources. "All the 84 members of the Muslim Brotherhood were released today" one source said on yesterday. Libya arrested, at the end of the 1990s, 152 members of the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2002 two were sentenced to death, 73 to life in prison and 66 were acquitted. The others were handed 10 year jail sentences. The condemned, mainly students and academics, were accused of supporting or belonging to al-Jamaa al-Islamiya al-Libiya, an Islamist group created in 1979, whose beliefs reflect those of Egypt's banned but tolerated Muslim Brotherhood. Australia wins A$70 million wheat
contract in Iraq
Australia has won a 350,000 ton wheat contract in Iraq worth up to 70 million Australian dollars (US$52.3 million), the trade minister said Today. He said he had received a cable from his Iraqi counterpart, Ahmad Chalabi, announcing that Iraq was allocating 350,000 tons of a 1.5 million ton wheat contract to Australia. Last month, Iraq had suspended its wheat trade with Australia amid allegations the country's monopoly wheat exporter, AWB Ltd., paid up to US$222 million in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's government under the UN oil-for-food program but later agreed to resume imports as long as AWB was not involved. Abbas claims al-Qaida is operating
in Gaza
The Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, said yesterday that he believes al-Qaida has infiltrated the occupied territories and could further destabilise the region. "We have indications about a presence of al-Qaida in Gaza and the West Bank. This is intelligence information. We have not yet reached the point of arrests," Mr Abbas said. Later he added that Palestinian security forces had been given the task of heading off any extremist plots. The leader of Hamas in the Palestinian parliament, Salah Bardawil, yesterday said his organisation knew of no al-Qaida activity in the occupied territories. Massive anti-Bush protests in
India
Anti-Bush activists in their thousands held a demonstration on Thursday to protest the three-day visit to India of the US President. Some 15,000 activists affiliated with various parties and workers’ unions aligned with India’s ruling Congress party staged the rally near New Delhi’s commercial centre, carrying anti-Bush posters and shouting anti-US slogans. "Bush go back, go back," the protestors chanted, unfurling giant banners and flags as they took to the streets, snarling up office rush-hour traffic. Inside parliament, some lawmakers jammed business and forced an adjournment in both chambers of the bicameral house. The MPs then trooped out of the chambers and staged a symbolic sit-in in front of the building. Bangladesh Muslim group chief
held
The head of a Muslim group blamed for several deadly bombings in Bangladesh has surrendered after security forces surrounded his hideout, according to officials. Shaikh Abdur Rahman, 50, leader of the banned Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, gave himself up early yesterday. His organisation has been blamed for bombings across Bangladesh in recent months that killed 26 people and wounded dozens. More than 500 security forces took part in a 30-hour siege on Rahman's hideout. Rahman, who studied in a university in Saudi Arabia in the 1980s, founded his group in 1998. It has been campaigning to introduce Islamic rule in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, which is governed by secular laws. Pressure on al-Jaafari to step
down
Iraq's main political parties have rallied behind efforts to form a national unity coalition, while Sunni leaders say they are not dropping their demands that Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the Shia prime minister, step down. Al-Jaafari, under pressure from US officials keen to see him bring minority Sunnis into government, hosted talks with representatives of the main political blocs yesterday. A senior official in the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front said that one key issue that other parties want to discuss is al-Jaafari's position as prime minister. UK court clears Dubai port
deal
Britain's High Court has approved the takeover of UK's main shipping company by state-owned Dubai Ports World, despite a last-minute objection by a US company. But Dubai Ports World (DP World) said on Thursday that it would hold off finalising the deal until next week, following massive political pressure in the US over the prospect of an Arab state-owned company taking control of terminal operations in six major US ports. Senior DP World officials said the deal would now likely be concluded on Monday or Tuesday of next week. Lebanese leaders try to bridge
gaps
Lebanon's rival leaders have agreed to let the government resolve the contentious issue of the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, a former prime minister, so they can focus on other issues. Those issues include the fate of the pro-Syrian president and the weapons of Hizbullah fighters. The leaders - Muslim and Christian, pro- and anti-Damascus, came together for the first time in an effort to overcome the country's deep divisions since the end of Syrian domination. About 35 leaders gathered in the first meeting of its kind since the end of nearly three decades of Syrian control, with Damascus' troop withdrawal following mass protests sparked by al-Hariri's assassination on 14 February 2005. Saudi driving ban on women extends
to golf carts
Saudi Arabia's longstanding ban on female drivers went an extra mile this week when women were barred from using golf carts to move around a cultural festival, according to Saudi newspapers. Saudi traditionalists object to women driving. Although there is no specific law to forbid it, women cannot obtain driving licences. In remote parts of the kingdom they sometimes drive without licences, and the use of golf carts on private land is another way to circumvent the rules. A few years ago King Abdullah - when he was crown prince - tried to stop female doctors and nurses driving golf carts to get around the vast King Abdul Aziz hospital complex in Riyadh, according to Ali al-Ahmed of the pro-reform Gulf Institute. Inews Daily - No Copyright - http://www.fsphost.com/inewsdaily -
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