Mexico Defies Washington on International Criminal Court:

Washington had warned Mexico that if it ratified the ICC and refused to sign an accord exempting U.S. nationals from the court's jurisdiction, it would cut 11.5 million dollars in funding from aid programmes for fighting drug trafficking, according to human rights groups. The amount is equal to almost 40 percent of the economic aid Mexico receives from the United States.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10863.htm

US Ambassador : Caracas has to seek US advise before transferring F-16s:

President Chavez threatened "giving them away" or "sending them" to Cuba or China.
http://english.eluniversal.com/2005/11/03/...03A626917.shtml

U.S. accuses Chavez of nuke ambitions:

Mr. Bush expressed skepticism about Mr. Chavez's request for the Argentine government to build a nuclear power plant in Venezuela. He questioned why Venezuela, which is awash in oil, would need nuclear power.
http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?Stor...03-095630-4755r

Chavez challenges Bush to a FTAA debate :

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said in Caracas he is willing to debate, during the coming Americas Summit in Argentina, with US president George Bush on the merits of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, FTAA.
http://www.mercopress.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=6693

Australia terror bill introduced :

Opposition parties said the timing of Wednesday's warning was a political ploy to divert attention from both the main anti-terror laws and unpopular labour laws introduced to parliament on Wednesday.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4402576.stm

Blair's power drains away:

Tony Blair was losing his grip on government last night. He suffered blows to his authority as the resignation of David Blunkett robbed him of a key Cabinet ally, Labour rebels slashed his Commons majority to one and his Terrorism Bill was left in tatters.
http://tinyurl.com/dovzr

Eritrea-Ethiopia Close To War:

There is growing concern Eritrea and Ethiopia are on the verge of war after reports of troop movements along the tense border between the two Horn of Africa neighbors.
http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/region...124424®ion=5

U.S. Pushes Nuclear Deal With India
http://www.spacewar.com/news/nuclear-doctrine-05zzt.html

Washington (UPI) Nov 03, 2005 - A skeptical Congress is weighing the advantages of a U.S. nuclear technology deal with India amid calls by the Bush administration not to dilute the pact and pleas from the non-proliferation community that the agreement in its current form will kill the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.

India Can Be Trusted With US Nuclear Technology: State Dept
http://www.spacewar.com/news/nuclear-doctrine-05zzu.html

Europe Shocked By CIA Prison Camp Claims
http://www.spacewar.com/news/terrorwar-05zzzzb.html

Brussels (UPI) Nov 03, 2005 - Allegations that the Central Intelligence Agency is running prison camps for suspected al-Qaida terrorists in Eastern Europe have sparked howls of protest from EU legislators and human rights groups, but strenuous denials from politicians in Poland -- one of the countries said to host the secret jails.

Analysis: Critics Condemn UK Terror Bill
http://www.spacewar.com/news/terrorwar-05zzzzc.html

Hundreds of cars set alight in 8th night of Paris riots Forbes
Some 400 cars were set on fire in the outskirts of Paris last night, as serious riots in the city's outskirts continued for an eighth consecutive night, the police said. Police also reported that 27 buses were set on fire at a depot, and that fires were started at a primary school in the district of Stains and at a warehouse in Aulnay-Sous-Bois. The police also said that for the first time since the riots broke out over a week ago, similar disturbances, although on a smaller scale, took place in other French towns, with several cars being set on fire in Dijon and in the Seine-Maritime and Bouche-du-Rhone regions. However, the police also said that there were fewer clashes between police and rioters than on Wednesday night.
Riots erupt again in Paris suburbs, 150 cars torched Reuters AlertNet
Sarkozy touches nerve over 'unFrench' future Times Online
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Chavez gets rare chance to spar with Bush MSNBC
Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, emboldened by thousands of anti-American protesters, is getting a rare chance to stand up to his adversary, George Bush, with promises to keep the president from reviving talks on a free trade area stretching from Alaska to Argentina. The two men arrived in Argentina for the fourth Summit of the Americas on Thursday, the same day Venezuela staged a mock U.S. invasion of its own territory. The event is the latest exercise intended to prepare soldiers and civilian volunteers for what Chavez says is a possible attack by American troops. U.S. officials deny any such plan, but Chavez says it’s best to be ready — just in case.
Analysts predict thorny reception for Bush at summit Contra Costa Times
Bush faces tough road at Summit of Americas San Diego Union Tribune
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Italy spy chief denies Iraq claim
Italy's chief of military intelligence (Sismi) has denied any role in passing bogus documents to the US claiming Iraq had tried to buy uranium from Niger.
Sismi chief Nicolo Pollari was briefing a parliamentary committee investigating the forged Niger dossier claim.

The claim was used by US President George Bush to help justify the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. It is now at the centre of a CIA leak investigation.

Sismi "had no role in the fabrication of the dossier," Mr Pollari said.

He was quoted as saying the dossier had been passed to the US "via a journalist for the Panorama weekly, who left it at the US embassy in Rome, and it was delivered to the French intelligence services by Rocco Martino".

Mr Pollari said Mr Martino had earlier been dismissed from Sismi.

Spy agency 'confused'

The special session of the parliamentary intelligence committee was called after the Italian daily La Repubblica alleged that Sismi had circulated the dossier, knowing it to be fake.


But Mr Pollari insisted that "from the start we shared the confusion of other intelligence agencies about the dossier, until we declared it was not credible".
Mr Bush used the claim that Iraq's Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium in Niger in his address on 28 January 2003, ahead of the Iraq invasion.

In the weeks after the president's address, the US moved away from the allegations.

A separate British intelligence report later also accused Iraq of seeking to buy uranium ore from Niger.

A member of the Italian investigating committee, Senator Massimo Brutti, denied his earlier statement that the committee was told Sismi had warned the US that the dossier was fake.

Mr Brutti said he had made his earlier statement in confusion, when facing a barrage of questions by reporters.

'No recollection'

After Mr Bush's January 2003 address, US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley - then a deputy national security adviser - took responsibility for the mistaken inclusion of the Niger uranium claim and offered to resign.


US officials confirmed on Wednesday that Mr Hadley did meet Mr Pollari in September 2002.

But Mr Hadley said nobody involved in the meeting "has any recollection of a discussion of natural uranium, or any recollection of any documents being passed".

Mr Hadley said the documents containing the uranium claims had emerged via the US State Department and then the CIA, but had not directly come to the National Security Council (NSC).

The UK government also used the Niger claim in making the case for the war. It said it had received the information independently from an unnamed intelligence source.

An Italian journalist, Elisabetta Burba, has previously said she received a copy of the dossier in 2002 from a man she knew as a security consultant and passed it to the US embassy in Rome for verification.

Prior to Mr Bush's address, the CIA had sent former ambassador Joseph Wilson to investigate the Iraq-Niger link and he reported that no such attempt to buy uranium - which can be used to make nuclear weapons - was likely to have taken place.

An inquiry into his mission and the leaking of a CIA agent's name led to the indictment and resignation last week of Vice-President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/worl...ope/4402594.stm

Published: 2005/11/04 12:18:55 GMT

© BBC MMV

Beijing Presses Moscow To Build Oil Pipeline To China
http://www.terradaily.com/news/energy-tech-05zzzzzzzzb.html

Beijing (AFP) Nov 03, 2005 - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday urged his visiting Russian counterpart to work toward an early agreement on a oil pipeline from Russian oil fields in Siberia to China.

EU Encourages Response to Allegations ABC News
European Commission Encourages European Governments to Respon to Allegations About CIA Prison. The European Commission said Friday it would encourage governments in Eastern Europe to publicly comment on allegations that the CIA set up secret prisons in the region to interrogate al-Qaida suspects. The allegations have already triggered a flurry of denials from governments in the former Soviet bloc and prompted European Union officials, the continent's top human rights organization and the international Red Cross to say they would look into the issue. Such prisons, European officials say, would violate the continent's human rights principles.

The runway and control tower of the airport in Szymany, in northeastern Poland, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005, where allegedly a Boeing 737 plane used by the CIA landed in 2003 with prisoners from Afghanistan, suspected of terrorism. Human Rights Watch group alleged the CIA used Poland for transferring prisoners and also that it has secret CIA prisons for Al Qaida prisoners. The European Commission said Thursday that it will investigate reports that the CIA set up secret jails in eastern Europe to interrogate al-Qaida captives. (AP Photo)
Friso Roscam Abbing, an EU spokesman, said the European Commission the EU's executive office would seek statements from governments that have not yet denied the existence of secret prisons on their territories to comment on the issue "if only to get as much clarity and transparency as possible." According to a report Wednesday in the Washington Post, the CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al-Qaida captives at Soviet-era compounds in eastern Europe. Human Rights Watch said it has evidence, based on flight logs, that indicates the CIA transported suspects captured in Afghanistan to Poland and Romania. The two countries were among those that denied the allegations. U.S. officials have refused to confirm or deny the claims. According to the Post's report, the CIA set up a covert prison system nearly four years ago which at various times included sites in eight countries, including Afghanistan and several eastern Europe nations. It quoted current and former intelligence officials and diplomats as sources for its story.
Nations Urged to Answer Prison Allegations Guardian Unlimited
EU to investigate allegations of CIA jails Sify
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Paris Burning AINA
Riots have now continued for eight days in and around Paris. Thursday night, November 3, Muslim rioters burned 315 cars. In the previous week, they torched 177 vehicles and burned numerous businesses, a post office, and two schools.
Paris rioting spreads Aljazeera.net
Hundreds of vehicles torched in French riots Reuters.uk
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Is it May 68?

Unrest in Paris Suburbs Enters Second Week ABC News
Unrest in Paris Suburbs Enters Second Week; Cars Torched, Woman on Crutches Reportedly Set on Fire. Small, mobile groups of youths hit Paris' riot-shaken suburbs with waves of arson attacks, torching hundreds of cars, as unrest entered its second week Friday and spread to other towns in France. A woman on crutches was doused in flammable liquid and set on fire earlier this week as she tried to get off a bus in a Paris suburb, a judicial official said Friday. She suffered severe burns. In the eastern city of Dijon, teens apparently angered by a police crackdown on drug trafficking in their neighborhood set fire to five cars, said Paul Ronciere, the region's top government official.

Firefighters try to extinguish a raging fire of a warehouse in the Paris suburb Le Bourget, early Friday, Nov. 4, 2005 after the seventh consecutive nights of violence on the outskirts of Paris. More than a thousand of police were deployed to again do battle with groups as a kindergarten, a gymnasium, government offices and hundreds of cars have been torched over the past week by youths in largely immigrant areas who began rampaging after two of their peers were electrocuted at a power substation while hiding from police they feared were chasing them. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
Another 11 cars were burned at a housing project in Salon-de-Provence, near the southern city of Marseille, police said. Overnight in the Paris region, at least 520 cars were set ablaze, up from previous nights, the Interior Ministry said. It said five police were slightly injured by thrown stones or bottles. But unlike previous nights, there were few direct clashes with security forces, no live bullets fired at police, and far fewer large groups of rioters, said Jean-Francois Cordet, the top government official for the worst-hit Seine-Saint-Denis suburb northeast of Paris. Instead, he said, the unrest was led by "very numerous small and highly mobile groups," with arson attacks that destroyed 187 vehicles and five buildings, including three sprawling warehouses. "The peak is now behind us," said Gerard Gaudron, mayor of Aulnay-sous-Bois, another badly hit town. He told France-Info radio that parents were determined to keep teenagers home to prevent unrest. "People have had enough. People are afraid. It's time for this to stop." In the northeast suburb of Sevran on Wednesday, youths doused a woman on crutches with flammable liquid and set her on fire with a burning rag as she struggled to get off a bus, a judicial official said, citing the bus driver's report to police. The driver, who had ordered passengers to leave the bus because flaming objects were blocking the road, helped the injured woman get off, the official said. Justice Minister Pascal Clement deplored the incident Friday, saying it caused him "great emotion." The rioting started Oct. 27, after youths were angered over the deaths of two teenagers Bouna Traore, 15, and Zyed Benna, 17. They were electrocuted in a power substation where they hid, thinking police were chasing them. Traore's brother, Siyakah Traore, on Friday urged protesters to "calm down and stop ransacking everything." "This is not how we are going to have our voices heard," he said on RTL radio. Car torchings are a daily fact of life in France's tough suburbs, with thousands burned each month, police say. Police intelligence has recorded nearly 70,000 incidents of urban violence this year, including attacks on police and rescue services, arson, throwing projectiles, clashes between gangs, joy-riding and property destruction, Le Monde reported. What sets this unrest apart is its duration, intensity and the way it rapidly grew beyond the original flashpoint of Clichy-sous-Bois in northeast Paris to become a broader challenge for France. No urban violence of this nature has lasted this long, said Pascal Perrineau, director of the Center for the Study of French Political Life. Many of the riotous youths are the French-born children of immigrant parents. The unrest has laid bare discontent simmering in suburbs and among immigrant families who feel trapped by poverty, unemployment, and poor education. France's Muslim population, estimated at 5 million, is Western Europe's largest. Immigrants and their children often complain of police harassment and job discrimination. National police spokesman Patrick Hamon, however, said there was "nothing that allows us to say that Islamists" were behind the recent unrest. Some 1,300 riot police fanned out overnight across Seine-Saint-Denis, as the unrest entered its second week and followed Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin's vow Thursday to restore order. A commuter train line linking Paris to Charles de Gaulle airport northeast of the capital ran a scaled-back service Friday after two trains were targeted Wednesday night. The SNCF train authority said one in five trains was running and conductors of night trains were demanding onboard security. Youths fired buckshot at riot police vehicles in Neuilly-sur-Marne, east of Paris, and a group of 30 to 40 harassed police near a synagogue in Stains to the north where a city bus was torched and a school classroom partially burned, Cordet said. In Trappes, to the west, 27 buses were incinerated. But the unrest was scaled back from the sometimes-ferocious rioting of previous nights, when bullets were fired at police and firefighters without causing injuries.
Residents point to anger behind French riots Financial Times
Hundreds of vehicles torched in French riots Reuters.uk
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Ethiopian PM says street violence "under control" Xinhua
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Friday the street violence "orchestrated by the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD)" has been put "under control," the same day as violence spread outside the capital and killed four people. In a nationwide televised address, Meles said the CUD is "accountable" for the violence erupted Tuesday in the country's capital Addis Ababa. "The attempts by leaders of the CUD to divide the people along ethnic lines and create social isolation have failed," he said.
Deadly Ethiopian unrest spills beyond capital MSNBC
Violent Protests Enter 4th Day in Ethiopian Capital Voice of America
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