In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful Inews Daily Monday 20th February 2006 - 21st Muharram 1427
Syria slams US 'meddling' Syria has lashed out at the United States over its plans to allocate $5 million to the Syrian opposition. "This is meddling in Syria's internal affairs and we reject it," the Syrian Foreign Minister told reporters yesterday. The US State Department said on Friday that it would allocate $5 million to finance the Syrian opposition amidst worsening relations between the two countries. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said that the United States wanted to strengthen sanctions against Syria and was trying to convince other nations to follow suit. Washington frequently accuses Syria of failing to stem the flow of foreign fighters across its border with Iraq. Jordan pledges help to Iraq King Abdullah of Jordan has said he wants to help Iraq to move past its current difficulties to a better future. The king spoke after meeting with Muqtada al-Sadr, who is currently on a regional tour to promote better relations with neighbouring countries. Abdullah affirmed Jordan's desire for a unified Iraq and the guarantee of a better future so that the country could regain its vital role in the region, the statement said. Abdullah added that Iraq's success was as of much interest to Jordan as to Iraq. Al-Sadr, who once fiercely battled US troops, has climbed Iraq's political ladder recently but maintains his anti-American stand. Saudi women eye win in chamber elections Half a dozen Saudi women are running for the board of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the oil-rich Eastern Province, confident that they will make inroads in the hitherto male-only body. If women clinch one or more seats on the board, which will have 12 elected members and another six appointed by the trade and industry minister, they would be repeating the groundbreaking victory of counterparts in Jeddah, who won two of the 12 seats up for grabs there last November. Saudi women, who are subject to a host of restrictions, were barred from landmark nationwide municipal elections last year. US Church Alliance denounces Iraq War A coalition of American churches sharply denounced the US-led war in Iraq on Saturday, accusing Washington of "raining down terror" and apologizing to other nations for "the violence, degradation and poverty our nation has sown." The statement, issued at the largest gathering of Christian churches in nearly a decade, also warned the United States was pushing the world toward environmental catastrophe with a "culture of consumption" and its refusal to back international accords seeking to battle global warming. "We lament with special anguish the war in Iraq, launched in deception and violating global norms of justice and human rights," said the statement from representatives of the 34 US members of World Council of Churches. "We mourn all who have died or been injured in this war. We acknowledge with shame abuses carried out in our name." Bin Laden vows never to be captured alive Osama bin Laden promised never to be captured alive and declared the US had resorted to the same opprepressive tactics used by Saddam Hussein, according to an audiotape purportedly by the al-Qaida leader that was posted Monday on a militant Web site. The tape appeared to be a complete version of one that was first broadcast on January 19 on Al-Jazeera, in which bin Laden said his al-Qaida terror network would soon launch a fresh attack on American soil. ``... the repressive steps taken by the American Army and its agents, to the extent that there is no longer any mentionable difference between this criminality and the criminality of Saddam.'' Occupation forces kill 2 Palestinian stone-throwers Zionist troops shot dead two Palestinians during confrontations with stone throwers in the West Bank refugee camp of Balata yesterday, witnesses said. The soldiers were searching the camp for suspected freedom-fighters when they came across stone-throwing youths and opened fire. Two 18-year-olds were killed. A third youth was wounded in the incident, medics said. Earlier, an Israeli air strike killed two Palestinian freedom-fighters near the Gaza Strip boundary. Military sources said an aircraft fired at a group of Palestinians suspected of planting a bomb near the Kissufim border crossing. Iran warns of 'swift response' Iran yesterday warned that any Israeli attack against it would provoke a swift response. The Iranian Intelligence Minister said an Israeli attack would be 'stupidity'. "In case the Zionist regime attacks Iran, it will get a swift response and will regret its action," he was quoted as saying. Israel has threatened to attack Iran's nuclear facilities if negotiations fail to convince Iran to give up its uranium enrichment programme. Iran has repeatedly warned of a strong response if attacked. Last month, the Iranian Defence Minister said if Israel attacks Iran's nuclear facilities, Iran will respond so strongly that it would put the Jewish state into 'an eternal coma' like Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's. Huge anti-cartoon protest in Turkey Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Istanbul on Sunday to protest the blasphemous sketches, chanting slogans against Denmark, Israel and the United States. The protest was organised by the Islamic Felicity Party, whose organisers shouted over loudspeakers that the massive crowd symbolised the anger of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims and urged them to "resist oppression". Turkey is a 99 per cent Muslim nation and protests of various sizes against the caricatures have been a daily occurrence in the past week. The protesters called for a boycott of Denmark, where the drawings were first published in a newspaper in September, and banners could be seen reading, "The Muslim Turkish nation is with its Palestinian and Iranian brothers." 25 hurt in blast at Ahmedabad railway station Twenty-five people were injured in a bomb blast at the main railway station in Ahmedabad city yesterday, police said. "It was a bomb blast. It was meant to create panic and terror. Whether it was a handiwork of terrorist outfits is not clear," said the police chief of Indian Gujarat state, which includes Ahmedabad. The impact of the explosion was limited as there were no trains at the station early morning when it was detonated. Three people suffered serious injuries the others were discharged after being given first-aid. The explosion destroyed part of a railway platform in the city and two tea stalls were also destroyed in the early morning explosion. Danish newspaper apologises for caricatures The Danish newspaper that first published the blasphemous caricatures that sparked violent protests across the Muslim World apologised again to Muslims. Almost five months after publishing 12 irreverent cartoons to highlight what it described as self-censorship, the Jyllands-Posten newspaper printed a full-page apology in a Saudi-owned pan-Arab newspaper. It was the strongest expression of regret yet from the newspaper, but stopped short of saying sorry for printing the cartoons, instead apologising for the turmoil they caused. "These drawings apparently hurt millions of Muslims around the world, so we now offer our apology and deep regret for what happened because it is far from the paper's intention," said the statement in Asharq al-Awasat titled "Apology" in big bold letters. Pakistan tests nuclear-capable missile Pakistan has successfully test-fired a short-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile. A military statement on Sunday said the Hatf-II/Abdali ground-to-ground missile had a range of 200km and could carry 'nuclear and other types of warheads'. The statement said: "All planned technical parameters were validated." It gave no further details nor the site of the test, which was announced as Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan president, was due to leave for a five-day state visit to China. In a reference to neighbouring countries, the statement said advance notice had been given to "all concerned". Sunday's was the second test-firing of the Hatf-II. The first took place in March last year when the missile's range was given as 180km. US encourages secterian violence in Iraq A car bomb exploded late yesterday afternoon near a Shia political office in Baghdad killing one person and injuring four, police said. Also yesterday, police found bodies of three men bound, blindfolded and shot execution-style in Baghdad's Shia stronghold of Sadr City. They appeared to be the latest victims of sectarian killings which have sharpened religious tensions as Iraqi politicians try to form a national unity government following the December parliamentary elections. Meanwhile a hard-line Sunni Muslim group renewed accusations that the Shia-dominated government is operating death squads and called on Muslim and Arab countries to support the Iraqi Sunni community. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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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