In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful Inews Daily Thursday 9th March 2006 - 8th Safar 1427
Baghdad rocked by kidnappings and mass killings Armed men in camouflage uniforms abducted up to 50 employees of a private security firm in eastern Baghdad yesterday, less than 24 hours after 18 blindfolded bodies were found in an abandoned lorry in a western suburb. The slaughter was the latest in a series of killings which has sent fear through the city. Small groups of people have been periodically tortured and murdered in recent months, in addition to the many assassinated individually. The victims were handcuffed giving rise to the possibility that this brutal act was done by US-linked militia. Iran threatens reprisals if punished in nuclear row Iran warned the US on Wednesday it could inflict 'harm and pain' to match whatever punishment Washington persuaded the UN Security Council to dole out for Tehran's refusal to give up atomic research. "So if the United States wishes to choose that path, let the ball roll," a senior Iranian national security official said in an interview with Reuters. Iran, the world's No. 4 oil provider, also said it would review its oil export policy should the Security Council tackle its case, which EU powers claimed was now inevitable as Tehran had flouted demands to prove it was not secretly after atomic bombs. US lawmakers vote to block ports deal A Republican-run US House of Representatives committee has voted overwhelmingly to block a Dubai-owned company from taking control of some US port operations in an election-year repudiation of President George Bush. The House Appropriations Committee voted by 62-2 on Wednesday to bar DP World, run by the government of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, from holding leases or contracts at US ports. The vote underscored widespread public opposition to the deal and Republican fears of loosing its edge on the issue of national security in November's elections. Bush has promised to veto any legislation that would block the deal. Pakistan-Iran rail link suspended Train services linking Pakistan and Iran have been suspended after a series of bombings and rocket attacks on the rail network in Pakistan. The service connected Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, with the Iranian border town of Zahedan. "There were five rocket attacks on the Quetta-Zahedan track over the past 10 days," an official said. It is the only rail link between the two countries. Pakistani authorities suspect that Baluch tribesmen have carried out the attacks as part of a campaign to compel the central government to increase payments the region receives for resources extracted there. Cairo-Tel Aviv bus service to resume after 10 years Israeli and Egypt agreed in principle yesterday to renew the Tel Aviv-Cairo daily bus service after 10 years, it was reported. The Zionist Tourism Minister and his Egyptian counterpart, agreed to renew the symbolic service, which an Israeli public bus company suspended in 1996 because it was unprofitable, the report said. The two ministers met during a conference in Berlin and agreed that their governments would soon meet to reach a final agreement on the issue. The link was inaugurated with great fanfare in 1981 after Egypt became the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel two years earlier. Jordan jails would-be jihadis Jordan's state security court yesterday jailed 11 men for crossing into Syria in the hope of joining insurgents fighting US troops in Iraq, judicial sources said. Four others among the group of Jordanians who were indicted in October were acquitted for lack of evidence, the sources said. Five of the suspects were sentenced in absentia to 15 years hard labour while six, under arrest since July 2005, were given between 20 months and four years in jail, the sources said. Ten of the men were arrested in July after they returned to Jordan from neighbouring Syria, having failed to enter Iraq. The other five are still on the run. Yemeni opposition warns of elections delay Yemen's major opposition parties warned yesterday that presidential and municipal elections due next September could not be held on time owing to disagreements over the formation of electoral committees. Seven opposition parties told a Press conference that the Higher Commission for Elections and Referenda was insisting on not letting opposition parties participate in forming the electoral committees charged with the administration of the polls. The parties, grouped in the 'Joint Meeting' block, also cautioned that the elections could come out with 'illegal results' if the opposition do not take part in operating the process. Malaysian Muslim women suffer 'apartheid': Mahathir's daughter The daughter of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has likened the status of Muslim women in Malaysia to that of South African blacks under apartheid. Marina Mahathir, a prominent social activist, made the claim in her regular Wednesday column for the Star daily to mark International Women's Day. The column did not appear Wednesday but will be published Thursday, she said. Marina Mahathir said that apartheid was still being practised in other forms even though it had disappeared from South Africa. Malaysia's population of 25 million is dominated by some 66 percent Muslim Malays. Chinese and Indians make up 26 percent and 8.0 percent respectively. Kuwaiti woman minister breaks 'barrier' In early March last year, women rights activist Maasuma al-Mubarak was leading a rally outside parliament to press MPs to pass a law enfranchising Kuwaiti women. Three months later, the US-educated liberal academic became Kuwait's first woman minister, scoring the second coup in as many months for Kuwaiti women who won the right to vote and stand for public office in May after four decades of struggle. Minutes after her appointment on June 12, Mubarak, married with one son and three daughters, described the step as a great honour for Kuwaiti women and an appreciation of their struggle. A graduate of political science from Kuwait University in 1971, Mubarak, in her late 50s, also became the first woman member of parliament as cabinet ministers automatically become members of parliament. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inews Daily - No Copyright - http://www.fsphost.com/inewsdaily - [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe by sending an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/TXWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Save Aceh now! visit http://www.pusatkrisisaceh.or.id Click English section for contact Islam Relief Organizations Want to learn about Islam and Christian? visit: http://come.to/christian-islam Yahoo! 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