In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful Inews Daily Saturday 18th February 2006 - 19th Muharram 1427
US asks Palestinians to return $50 million in aid The United States has asked the Palestinian Authority to return $50 million in US aid because Washington does not want a Hamas-led government to have the funds, the State Department said on Yesterday. The money was demanded as part of a full review of all US aid for the Palestinians that began soon after the Hamas' surprise victory in elections last month. A State Department spokesman said the caretaker government of President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to return the money, given last year for infrastructure projects after Israel's purported withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. Iran calls on Britain to withdraw from Basra Tensions between Britain and Iran stepped up a notch yesterday when the Iranian foreign minister called on the UK to pull its troops out of Basra immediately. "The Islamic Republic of Iran demands the immediate withdrawal of British forces from Basra," said the Iranian foreign minister, speaking through an interpreter during a visit to Lebanon. Tony Blair retorted that there would be no immediate pullout from Iraq, though he has hinted at starting a phased withdrawal during the first half of this year. Earlier this week, local leaders and police chiefs cut off links with the British army in protest against videos showing troops beating young Iraqis in Amara, a town north of Basra, two years ago. Poland rejects Iran's Holocaust review Poland's Foreign Minister has ruled out allowing any Iranian researchers to examine the scale of the Holocaust committed on Polish soil during World War II. The remarks came after suggestions by Iranian officials that more research is needed to establish the truth about what happened to European Jews. Polish daily Rzeczpospolita reported on Friday that Iran wants to send researchers to Poland to examine the scale of the Nazi crimes during the war. Last week Iran's ambassador to Lisbon, who in the past served as a diplomat in Poland, said in an interview on Portuguese radio that according to his calculations based on a visit to the camp, now a museum, it would have taken the Nazis 15 years to burn the corpses of 6 million people. US to fund Syrian opposition The United States will allocate $5 million to finance the Syrian opposition, the State Department said yesterday, two days after announcing a similar initiative for the Iranian opposition. The State Department said in a statement that it will give the money to accelerate the work of reformers in Syria. The money would come from the department's Middle East Partnership Initiative, it said. Denmark shuts embassy in Islamabad Pakistan yesterday recalled its ambassador from Denmark to convey its displeasure with the Danish government's handling of the issue of publication of blasphemous cartoons by a newspaper. Pakistan also formally informed the Danish government about its decision to withdraw its ambassador as a mark of protest. However, Pakistan's embassy in Copenhagen would continue to function without the ambassador, sources said. Meanwhile, Denmark closed its embassy for public dealings in Islamabad on Friday. Yemeni Imam heard the prisoners escaping Sheikh Riyad Al Gheili heard the sound of digging 10 days before 23 convicted al Qaeda prisoners popped through the floor of the women's rest room at the mosque where he leads prayers. "When I informed the prison guards of the sounds I was hearing at night, they told me I'm imagining things," Al Gheili said yesterday. The 23 prisoners included Jaber al Baneh, a wanted 39-year-old US citizen. The FBI has offered a $5-million reward for his capture. The government has largely been silent about the details of the escape. Rice grilled over Iraq rebuilding pace Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been told that patience was waning over the pace and cost of rebuilding efforts. Congress has given more than $US20 billion for projects aimed at improving Iraq's dilapidated infrastructure. Rice told law-makers that conditions were better. But in three key areas - access to drinking water, electricity and sewer service - Iraqis are worse off than before the US-led invasion in March 2003, according to statistics released last week by the US special inspector general for the reconstruction of Iraq. At least nine killed in Libya as cartoon protests escalate The anger over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons hit a new peak last night when at least nine people were reported dead in the Libyan city of Benghazi after a group of protesters set fire to the Italian consulate. More than 1,000 protesters set upon the mission, setting cars alight and breaking windows, angered by a minister in Silvio Berlusconi's government who has said he intends to wear T-shirts bearing some of the cartoons. An Italian consular official said nine protesters had been killed and several more had been wounded as armed police clashed with the crowd. State television showed part of the consulate on fire. Boycott costing Danish businesses Consumer boycotts of Danish goods in Muslim countries in protest at publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad are costing Denmark's companies millions, and has raised fears of irreparable damage to trade ties. From Havarti cheese to Lego, Danish products have been yanked off the shelves of stores in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Indonesia and numerous other countries around the World as Muslims await an apology for the cartoons, which the Copenhagen government has said it cannot give. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inews Daily - No Copyright - http://www.fsphost.com/inewsdaily - [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe by sending an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! 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