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In the name of
Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Inews
Daily
Sunday 26th March
2006 - 25th Safar 1427
Iraq FM slams
Arab stand
Iraq's foreign minister has harshly criticised Arab states for not taking a greater role in Iraq, saying they should forgive the country's debts and open diplomatic missions. Hushyar Zibari made the comments yesterday as Arab foreign ministers met in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, to prepare for a summit of Arab leaders on Monday. The summit aims to tackle a string of major issues facing the region - including violence in Iraq and the Palestinians' formation of a new Hamas-led government. Iraq's leaders have frequently expressed bitterness over Arab states' slowness in showing support for the country's new leadership, suggesting the Arab League - whose 22 members are majority Sunnis - is biased towards Iraq's Sunni minority. Violence
spirals in Somalia
Warring factions have clashed for the fourth consecutive day in the north of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, as heavy gun battles claimed five more lives, bringing the official death toll to 52 and more than 200 injured. Eyewitnesses and medics on Saturday reported unabated violence and a climbing death toll. The fighting was sparked by a row over land ownership in which a militia leader attempted to grab the piece of land attached to the Aisaley airport north of the capital and that is controlled by a rival warlord. Somalia has lacked an effective government since the 1991 overthrow of President Mohamed Siad Barre and has since then been wrecked by chronic unrest with warlords and rival militias fighting for control of unruly fiefdoms. Two Saudis
arrested for kidnap, rape in Bahrain
Two Saudi men were detained by Bahraini police in the early hours of Friday on suspicion they had kidnapped and raped an Egyptian woman. The two men, aged 26 and 28, were charged with dragging the 22- year-old woman from the hallway of the hotel where they are staying and into their room, where they allegedly raped her repeatedly. The crime was discovered by a hotel employee who found the woman gagged and bound inside the room during a routine inspection of the room as the two attempted to check-out of the hotel. One of the two was apprehended on the scene, while the other who fled the hotel was arrested an hour later by police. Sources said that the woman, a resident of Bahrain, was staying in the hotel to relax after a domestic disagreement with her husband. Iraq attacks
leave 13 dead
An array of attacks in Baghdad and its environs has left 13 Iraqis dead. In Mahmudiya, located in the notorious "triangle of death" just south of the capital, six mortar rounds rained down on three houses, killing four people and wounding 13 yesterday. Another four Iraqis were killed earlier when a roadside bomb exploded near a bus travelling through the eastern edge of the city. In the small town of Balad Ruz, east of Baghdad near the Iranian border, a roadside bomb killed two teenage boys selling farm produce from the back of their bicycles. A passing car was also hit, but the three occupants were only injured. Ten more corpses were also discovered in Baghdad, bringing the number of bodies, most showing signs of torture, discovered by police over the last week to about 75. Gulf Arab
states assure Hamas of aid without specifics
Gulf Arab states, including Kuwait, have pledged to continue aid to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority once Hamas takes power, an official said yesterday. A Hamas delegation, is currently in Kuwait as part of a tour of Arab countries to garner support in the face of US-led Western threat to cut aid to Palestinians. The delegation held talks with the Amir of Kuwait and other top Kuwaiti leaders. Meanwhile, a Palestinian delegation headed by the outgoing government made an urgent appeal during summit preparatory meetings in Khartoum for $100 million a month from Arab states to plug a gapping deficit. It said that Arab states have not fulfilled a pledge made at the last annual summit in Algeria to provide the Palestinian government with $55 million a month. Russia denies
Iraq intelligence claims
Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service has denied that it provided information on US troop movements and plans to Iraq during the 2003 attack on the country. "Similar, baseless accusations concerning Russia's intelligence have been made more than once," a foreign intelligence service spokesman said on yesterday. "We do not consider it necessary to comment on such fabrications." An unclassified Pentagon report released on Friday cited two captured Iraqi documents that say the Russians collected information from sources "inside the American Central Command" and that battlefield intelligence was provided to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein through the Russian ambassador in Baghdad. The report also said the Russian government had sources inside the American military command as it planned and executed the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Sudan rejects
UN Darfur force
Sudan has asked for Arab support for its stance against sending UN peace keeping forces to Darfur. "We reject sending any further troops to Darfur," Sudan's foreign minister told a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Khartoum on Saturday. He asked the ministers for their countries' support on Sudan's position. The ministers are in the Sudanese capital before the Arab summit next week. The UN Security Council had voted to keep UN peacekeepers in Sudan to monitor an accord ending a 21-year civil war on Friday, and authorised planning for the expected extension of the UN force's operations in Darfur. A 7,000-strong force from the African Union has been trying to prevent the three-year conflict in Darfur from escalating. Algeria
'rebels' kill four civilians
Algerian rebels killed four civilians in the worst attack since the government started carrying out an amnesty for rebels intended to end more than a decade of strife. Two rebels armed with machineguns surprised four farmers and shot them dead on Thursday near Blida, 50km south of the capital Algiers, witnesses said. Six government soldiers were injured on Friday in a separate attack when a home-made bomb exploded in Jijel province, 350km east of Algiers. Algeria began implementing an amnesty this month as part of efforts to end violence that broke out when the authorities cancelled legislative elections in 1992 that a now-banned political party was poised to win. An estimated 200,000 people have been killed since. The authorities have killed 17,000 militants since 1992. About 800 rebels are still active, the government said last week 11 Kurdish
'rebels' killed in Turkey
Turkey’s armed forces killed 11 militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the biggest operation against the separatist group so far this year, army sources said yesterday. A large operation began two days ago in the eastern Turkish province of Mus, with the army using gunships against the rebels, the sources said. Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since the group launched its armed struggle for an independent Kurdish state in southeast Turkey in 1984. The PKK is classed as a terrorist organisation by the European Union and the United States. An estimated 5,000 PKK rebels are hiding in the mountains of mainly Kurdish northern Iraq. Italian police
arrest four Muslims
Italian police yesterday staged a nationwide series of raids on suspected Islamic activists, checking the papers of 289 people and arresting four men. The operation covered 46 provinces across Italy, and took place two weeks before a general election, at a time when the country is on higher than usual alert for 'terrorist threats'. Police said in a statement they had carried out "checks on the most extreme elements of Islam present in Italy". "The operation concerned individuals already involved to various extents in investigations and led to the sequester of copious documentation which is now in the hands of the investigators." It did not say whether the four men arrested would be charged with a crime. ElBaradei
criticises Security Council
The UN Security Council has too often failed to act swiftly and effectively to contain international crises and needs reforming, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog has said. Mohamed ElBaradei, last year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, said yesterday: "Too often, the Security Council's engagement is inadequate, selective or after the fact." His criticism of the UN body responsible for maintaining international peace and security comes as its five permanent members struggle to agree on a draft statement rebuking Iran for pressing ahead with a nuclear enrichment programme. In an annual lecture organised by a Karlsruhe Dental Institute, the Egyptian diplomat said the 15-nation Security Council had shown its ineffectiveness by failing to tackle violence in Sudan's Darfur region. ElBaradei said the Council's lack of success had also been visible in reference to arms control and Iraq. Inews Daily - No Copyright - http://www.fsphost.com/inewsdaily -
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