Sailors Rescued From Ship After Collision ABC News
Chemical Tanker, Cargo Ship Collide in the English Channel; 22 Sailors Rescued From Tanker. A chemical tanker and cargo ship collided in the English Channel early Tuesday, setting off a pre-dawn rescue of 22 sailors by helicopter and lifeboat. The tanker, which was carrying phosphoric acid, collided with a cargo ship at about 2:20 a.m. about 30 miles northwest of the Channel island of Guernsey, Britain's Maritime and Coast Guard Agency said. French officials said all the rescued sailors were from the chemical tanker Ece, which was taking in water and listing in rough seas.
Sailors Rescued From Ship After Collision Washington Post
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theglobalchinese:

Senate Roll Call: Alito Vote By The Associated Press
Tue Jan 31, 11:48 AM ET

The 58-42 roll call by which the Senate voted to confirm Judge Samuel Alito as the 110th justice on the Supreme Court.

On this vote, a "yes" vote was a vote to confirm Alito and a "no" vote was a vote against his confirmation. Voting "yes" were four Democrats and 54 Republicans. Voting "no" were 40 Democrats, one Republican and one independent.

Alabama

Sessions ® Yes; Shelby ® Yes.

Alaska

Murkowski ® Yes; Stevens ® Yes.

Arizona

Kyl ® Yes; McCain ® Yes.

Arkansas

Lincoln (D) No; Pryor (D) No.

California

Boxer (D) No; Feinstein (D) No.

Colorado

Allard ® Yes; Salazar (D) No.

Connecticut

Dodd (D) No; Lieberman (D) No.

Delaware

Biden (D) No; Carper (D) No.

Florida

Martinez ® Yes; Nelson (D) No.

Georgia

Chambliss ® Yes; Isakson ® Yes.

Hawaii

Akaka (D) No; Inouye (D) No.

Idaho

Craig ® Yes; Crapo ® Yes.

Illinois

Durbin (D) No; Obama (D) No.

Indiana

Bayh (D) No; Lugar ® Yes.

Iowa

Grassley ® Yes; Harkin (D) No.

Kansas

Brownback ® Yes; Roberts ® Yes.

Kentucky

Bunning ® Yes; McConnell ® Yes.

Louisiana

Landrieu (D) No; Vitter ® Yes.

Maine

Collins ® Yes; Snowe ® Yes.

Maryland

Mikulski (D) No; Sarbanes (D) No.

Massachusetts

Kennedy (D) No; Kerry (D) No.

Michigan

Levin (D) No; Stabenow (D) No.

Minnesota

Coleman ® Yes; Dayton (D) No.

Mississippi

Cochran ® Yes; Lott ® Yes.

Missouri

Bond ® Yes; Talent ® Yes.

Montana

Baucus (D) No; Burns ® Yes.

Nebraska

Hagel ® Yes; Nelson (D) Yes.

Nevada

Ensign ® Yes; Reid (D) No.

New Hampshire

Gregg ® Yes; Sununu ® Yes.

New Jersey

Lautenberg (D) No; Menendez (D) No.

New Mexico

Bingaman (D) No; Domenici ® Yes.

New York

Clinton (D) No; Schumer (D) No.

North Carolina

Burr ® Yes; Dole ® Yes.

North Dakota

Conrad (D) Yes; Dorgan (D) No.

Ohio

DeWine ® Yes; Voinovich ® Yes.

Oklahoma

Coburn ® Yes; Inhofe ® Yes.

Oregon

Smith ® Yes; Wyden (D) No.

Pennsylvania

Santorum ® Yes; Specter ® Yes.

Rhode Island

Chafee ® No; Reed (D) No.

South Carolina

DeMint ® Yes; Graham ® Yes.

South Dakota

Johnson (D) Yes; Thune ® Yes.

Tennessee

Alexander ® Yes; Frist ® Yes.

Texas

Cornyn ® Yes; Hutchison ® Yes.

Utah

Bennett ® Yes; Hatch ® Yes.

Vermont

Jeffords (I) No; Leahy (D) No.

Virginia

Allen ® Yes; Warner ® Yes.

Washington

Cantwell (D) No; Murray (D) No.

West Virginia

Byrd (D) Yes; Rockefeller (D) No.

Wisconsin

Feingold (D) No; Kohl (D) No.

Wyoming

Enzi ® Yes; Thomas ® Yes.



Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.


Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

February 1, 2006
Atomic Agency Sees Possible Link of Military to Iran Nuclear Work
By ELAINE SCIOLINO and WILLIAM J. BROAD
VIENNA, Jan. 31 — The International Atomic Energy Agency says it has evidence that suggests links between Iran's ostensibly peaceful nuclear program and its military work on high explosives and missiles, according to a report from the agency that was released to member countries on Tuesday.

The four-page report, which officials say was based at least in part on intelligence provided by the United States, refers to a secretive Iranian entity called the Green Salt Project, which worked on uranium processing, high explosives and a missile warhead design.

The combination suggests a "military-nuclear dimension," the report said, that if true would undercut Iran's claims that its nuclear program is solely aimed at producing electrical power.

The report will be debated by the 35 countries that make up the international agency's board when it meets in emergency session on Thursday to decide whether Iran should be reported to the United Nations Security Council for its nuclear activities.

The agency says it has repeatedly confronted Iran with the allegations, which Tehran dismissed as "baseless," adding that "it would provide further clarifications later," the report said.

Iran also reiterated that all of its nuclear projects were conducted under the authority of its national atomic energy agency and not the military.

More broadly, the report states that the country has not been fully cooperative on all of the outstanding nuclear issues that the agency has questioned for years, and that formed the basis of a resolution by the agency's board last fall that Iran was not complying with its international obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The Green Salt Project derives its name from uranium tetrafluoride, also known as Green Salt, which is an intermediate product in the conversion of uranium ore into uranium hexafluoride — a toxic gas that can undergo enrichment or purification into fuel for nuclear reactors or bombs.

The report suggests that the fuel project, the high explosives tests and the design of a missile re-entry vehicle "appear to have administrative interconnections."

It would seem to be the first time the agency has publicly suggested that the fuel production — which Iran has said is purely for civilian purposes — was linked to its military programs.

The tests of high explosives are of particular concern: one of the key challenges in making a nuclear weapon is designing the ring of conventional explosives that can be used to compress the nuclear material, setting off a nuclear chain reaction.

It is highly unusual, Western experts said, for a group of uranium conversion experts ostensibly making fuel for nuclear reactors to also have administrative ties to people doing studies on explosives and re-entry vehicles, the technical name for missile warheads.

"The obvious technical connection is that these are all central elements of a program to develop nuclear weapons and delivery capability," said Per F. Peterson, a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

The alleged bureaucratic linkage of the various efforts would make them highly suspicious, Dr. Peterson said, because each could be separately viewed as potentially unrelated to nuclear weapons.

While the Bush administration has long argued that Iran was using its civilian program to hide ambitions to build a nuclear weapon, the agency has always steered clear of that accusation. With the report, it has for the first time provided evidence directly suggesting that at least some of Iran's activities point to a military project.

The Mujahedeen Khalq, an Iranian resistance group that both the United States and the European Union describe as a terrorist organization, has often drawn links among the Iranian military, the Revolutionary Guard Corps and Tehran's nuclear program, claiming that the separate groups were working together to gain the ability to build and deliver an atom bomb.

But Western experts said they knew of no instances in which the I.A.E.A. had pressed that accusation home. "We haven't heard this from the I.A.E.A. before," said Matthew Bunn, a nuclear expert at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. "It's interesting that the I.A.E.A. is putting that level of credence into it. I don't believe there has previously been any I.A.E.A. reference to such interconnections."

Even though the report was designated as confidential, copies began to surface in Vienna almost as soon as it was posted on a Web site available only to member countries of the agency.

The Vienna-based international nuclear agency also said in its report that a 15-page document Iran had allowed it to read described procedures that would be useful only in making parts for nuclear weapons.

The agency for the first time stated its own conclusions on the matter and did so quite bluntly, saying the document that Iran obtained from the black market "related to the fabrication of nuclear weapon components."

The I.A.E.A., in a report issued in November, made reference to suspicious documents that the nuclear black market had offered to Tehran. While making no reference to weaponry, the report indicated that the black market had offered to help Iran shape uranium metal into "hemispherical forms," which Western experts said at the time had suggested the making of nuclear bomb cores.

In the past, Iran told the agency that the document was provided — without its asking — by an international smuggling network that has been identified as run by the rogue Pakistani nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, and that it has not used the information for a weapons project.

The report is a short, informal update by Olli Heinonen, the agency's director of safeguards, following a request by the United States, France, Britain and Germany for an assessment of Iran's nuclear activities before the board meeting on Thursday. It does not give the precise sources of its information, but American officials say the allegations are based in part on material from a laptop computer seized in Iran.

What prompted the meeting was a decision by Iran to reopen its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz in violation of a voluntary agreement it made with France, Germany and Britain in November 2004 that froze Iran's enrichment-related activities while it negotiated a package of economic and political incentives.

That led to a statement on Monday in which Russia and China joined the United States, France, Britain and Germany in agreeing that the Security Council should be informed of Iran's nuclear activities.

In response, Iran lashed out on Tuesday, saying that there was no legal justification for such a move and that it would bring "an end to diplomacy."

"Informing the Security Council or referring the Iranian case to it will bring an end to diplomacy and that is not at all positive," said Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, who is close to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Mr. Larijani also said Iran would most likely strike back. "If these countries use all their instruments to exert pressure on Iran, Iran will use its capability in the region," he said in a meeting with Armenian officials in Iran, according to the Iranian Student News Agency.

Elaine Sciolino reported from Vienna for this article, and William J. Broad from New York. David E. Sanger contributed reporting from Washington, and Michael Slackman and Nazila Fathi from Tehran.



Copyright 2006The New York Times

Admirers Express a Personal Loss Los Angeles Times
Mourners, black and white, voice respect for first lady of civil rights. There is worry that the movement's giants are not being replaced. Claudia Robertson took her grandson to the King Center on Tuesday afternoon to help him understand the sweeping historical significance of the civil rights movement — and the specific contributions of Coretta Scott King. But a few hours earlier, she and her husband made a more intimate trip to the gravesite of King's iconic husband, bearing flowers as if they were cousins at a country funeral.
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Saddam trial delayed amid more confusion Reuters
The trial of Saddam Hussein was thrown into further disarray on Wednesday when it was delayed for "procedural issues" after the defense refused to return to court unless the chief judge resigned. Judge Raouf Abdel Rahman, who has infuriated Saddam and his defense team with his no-nonsense style, was due to open the court after a closed session. Speaking to Reuters in the Jordanian capital Amman, Saddam's chief lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi accused Abdel Rahman, a member of the Kurdish community long oppressed by Saddam, of showing bias and rushing to hand down a sentence. "We cannot attend any trial session unless the chief judge resigns, because he holds a personal grudge against my client," he said. Abdel Rahman, who stares out Saddam and yells back at him, has made it clear he will not tolerate the former leader's outbursts. The trial has turned into a test of wills since he began presiding over proceedings on Sunday. "After what happened ... the defense team was confronted with only one choice -- the boycott of a court that has no legitimacy, (is) unconstitutional and has already taken a prior decision to convict the president," Dulaimi said.
Saddam Trial Holds a Closed Session ABC News
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Iranian leader defiant over nuclear programs RIA Novosti
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad went on the offensive Wednesday over Western criticism of his country's nuclear programs by vowing to press ahead with the controversial research and branding US President George Bush a war criminal. After arriving in the southern town of Bushehr, where Russia is building a $800-million nuclear power plant, Ahmadinejad told journalists: "The West's has been living with its colonial dreams throughout the last 200 years, and its decisions on Iran's 'nuclear file" will not influence the decisions of the Iranian people." He said the country would "resolutely defend its legitimate rights" to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, though other nations suspect it of a pursing a weapons program, and criticized the position of the trio of European negotiating with Iran - Great Britain, France and Germany. The nations recently announced that they would seek to refer the matter to the UN Security Council through the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog. "The Europeans themselves lost the opportunity to hold negotiations with Iran," he said, alluding to the three countries' decision. Although Javad Vaeedi, the head of the Iranian delegation for the last round of talks in Brussels January 30, was cautiously optimistic, the Europeans did not change their position, citing a lack of progress. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said the talks had come to a dead end, but did not exclude progress if Iran took relevant measures. On Tuesday, a leading Iranian negotiator said the referral of Iran's nuclear file to the UN Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic if it is found to be in breach of its international commitments, would mark "the end to diplomacy."
The noose tightens around Iran Asia Times Online
Teheran threatens to bar UN inspections Hindu
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Bush says he understands Americans' worries Ireland Online
US President George Bush said today that even though the state of the union is strong, he understands why some Americans are worried in a time of war and job cuts. “I understand there’s an anxiety about the time of war,” Bush said, trying to keep the momentum of the previous night’s State of the Union address with an appearance at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. “That’s natural, seems like to me, even though this economy is roaring. It is strong, when you recognise we’ve overcome a lot.” Bush tried to pre-empt objections from Democrats, who are looking to regain control of the House and Senate in midterm elections this year. The Democrats are looking for advantage in Bush’s weak poll numbers and burgeoning scandals in Republican congressional ranks.
Bush's course: bold abroad, humble at home Christian Science Monitor
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World gives Iran 'final chance' CNN International
The international community has given Iran a "final opportunity" to meet its nuclear obligations, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said. Straw met with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki for more than an hour Wednesday. The pair also met Tuesday at a conference on Afghanistan in London. "He (Mottaki) really needs to see this agreed position by the leaders of the international community, not as a threat but as an opportunity ... a final opportunity for Iran to put itself back on track," Straw told BBC radio. "Mottaki was warned not to walk away from the IAEA additional protocol or to make threats," a British Foreign Office spokesman said, referring to demands by the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. "This was not in Iran's interest." Later, British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the House of Commons that it was important to "send a signal of strength" to Iran. "It is important that they understand ... that we are united in determining that they should not be able to carry on flouting their international obligations," he told MPs.
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Israelis Complete Settlement Evacuation Guardian Unlimited
Israeli riot police wielding clubs and water cannons cleared out part of this illegal Jewish settlement outpost Wednesday, as resisters fought back with sticks, stones, bricks and paint. More than 200 were injured, one-quarter of them officers. In anguished scenes reminiscent of last summer's Gaza withdrawal, the security forces dragged hundreds of protesters from rooftops barricaded in barbed wire and flattened empty homes with bulldozers and heavy machinery. The military said 32 people were arrested at the scene along with ``dozens of other rioters'' in the area. The fierce battle was a likely harbinger of what lies ahead if Israel decides to leave other parts of the West Bank. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the front-runner in the March 28 Israeli elections, is widely expected to withdraw from more areas of the territory and dismantle additional Jewish settlements if he wins. Olmert has said he is ready to make painful territorial concessions as part of a negotiated peace agreement with the Palestinians, but has signaled he will act unilaterally if an accord is not possible. The likelihood of unilateral action - including limited withdrawals meant to boost Israeli security - has grown since the victory by the militant group Hamas in last week's Palestinian parliamentary elections.
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Firestorm over Danish Muhammad cartoons continues Christian Science Monitor
A Danish newspaper that ran a series of cartoons of the prophet Muhammad is still feeling the heat from their publication, having received a bomb threat one day after printing an apology to the Muslim world. The Independent of London reports that Jyllands-Posten, Denmark's largest newspaper, evacuated its offices in Copenhagen and Arhus after the threat was phoned in Tuesday. It proved to be false. The bomb threat comes in the aftermath of the September 2005 publication of the 12 cartoons, some of which seemed to equate Muhammad with terrorism. Since publication, Jyllands-Posten and Denmark have become the focus of the ire of the Muslim world. Demonstrators in Gaza have burned Danish flags, Saudi Arabia and Libya have withdrawn their ambassadors to Denmark, and Danish goods are being boycotted across the Middle East. Jyllands-Posten ran an apology from Carsten Juste, the paper's editor in chief, on Monday.
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Bush sets terms for engagement with Hamas Reuters Canada
President George W. Bush said on Wednesday Hamas must change its attitude toward Israel and disarm as conditions for US support of a Palestinian government run by Hamas. In a Reuters interview aboard Air Force One on a flight to Nashville, Tennessee, Bush laid down conditions for a U.S. engagement with the Islamic militant group that swept to a stunning victory last week in the Palestinian parliamentary election. "In order for the United States to support a Palestinian government run by Hamas, Hamas must change its party platform and change its way of thinking and get rid of this armed group, as well as change its attitude toward Israel," Bush said. The Bush administration has repeated several times since Hamas swept to victory over the long-dominant Fatah faction that the group should change its stance. Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, earlier on Wednesday rejected Bush's call to disarm. U.S. policymakers were caught off guard by the Hamas victory and are trying to come to grips with what happens if Hamas takes a large share of the government. Bush has urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not to resign. Abbas has been a U.S. ally on the peace process but his Fatah party was soundly defeated by Hamas. "Hamas has got a decision to make, and that decision is to whether or not it will be a partner in peace, and you cannot be a partner in peace if part of your platform is the destruction of Israel. Nor can you be partner in peace if part of your party has got a terrorist affiliation, armed groups," Bush said.
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Saddam boycotts his murder trial Times Online
Saddam Hussein today boycotted his increasingly drawn out trial amid claims that the chief judge has a personal grudge against the former Iraqi dictator. A further four other defendants also refused to attend the proceedings but chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman still pressed ahead with proceedings, using court-appointed defence lawyers. Saddam's supporters allege that the trial's chief judge, a Kurd, is biased because he lost relatives following the 1988 Halabja poison gas attack which was allegedly ordered by the then government. Arab media reports have even suggested that Mr Abdel-Rahman may have been tortured by Saddam's security agents in the 1980s. The deposed leader previously caused chaos after walking out of the trial last Sunday when Mr Abdel-Rahman, who had only begun sitting in the trial that day, ordered a co-defendant to leave the session for shouting. An enraged Saddam was escorted out when he refused to co-operate with a court appointed lawyer, and his defence team duly followed, throwing up more problems for the trial. In the latest incident, chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi, with only three defendants present, asked the judge to force all defendants to attend. Mr Abdel-Rahman ruled that the court proceedings will continue but that the five-judge panel would consider the request in future hearings.
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Abbas, Hamas leaders plan to meet this week CNN
A week after Hamas wrested control of the Palestinian parliament from the Fatah Party, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has not officially called on the Islamic fundamentalist group to form a government. But Palestinian sources said Wednesday that Abbas plans to meet with Hamas leaders in Gaza either Friday or Saturday. It's unclear what the topic of discussion will be, the sources said. Last week, in the first Palestinian election in 10 years, Hamas won 76 of the 132 seats in the parliament. Fatah, which has dominated Palestinian politics for four decades, felt a backlash from voters, winning only 43 seats. Abbas, the Fatah leader, has faced demands from party supporters to step down after the election defeat. Hamas officials have urged members of Fatah to join it in a unity government for the Palestinians, but so far Fatah officials have rejected those calls. Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, was due to confer with Egyptian officials in Cairo before meeting with Hamas officials. Behind the scenes, Egyptian officials were talking with both sides following Hamas' surprise victory. On Tuesday, Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman met with exiled Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal in Damascus, Syria. Suleiman said he called on Hamas to renounce violence so that it can form an effective government.
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Egyptian envoy urges Hamas to renounce violence Financial Times
Omar Suleiman, Egypt’s intelligence chief and principle envoy on Palestinian affairs, threw his weight behind international efforts to pressure Hamas into moderation on Wednesday, saying the victors in Palestinian elections could not expect to form a government unless they first renounced violence and recognised Israel. Mr Suleiman was speaking after Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian president, began mediation efforts on the future of the Palestinian Authority during talks in Cairo with both Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and later Tzipi Livni, Israel’s foreign minister. Hamas leaders are also expected in Cairo in the coming days. “First they [Hamas] have to stop the violence . . . Secondly they have to be committed to all the agreements to which the Palestinian Authority have signed. Thirdly they have to recognise the existence of Israel,” Mr Suleiman said. “If they don’t, nobody will deal with them. If they don’t comply with the conditions, then I think [Mahmoud Abbas] will not ask them to form the government.”
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All clear at Danish newspaper after bomb threat Reuters
Workers at the Danish newspaper that angered many in the Muslim world by publishing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad returned to their offices following a false bomb threat on Wednesday evening, police said. It was the second time in two days that the offices of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper were evacuated in Aarhus, Denmark's second city. "The evacuation has been called off as nothing was found in the building," a police spokesman said.
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IRA 'still has weapons' Channel 4 News
The head of the body overseeing the Northern Ireland ceasefire says the IRA has given up its weapons. But his own team claims it has reports that the paramilitary organisation is holding onto some of its arms. n a statement - the IRA denied it had gone back on the pledge it made in July to end its campaign of violence. But although the Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain is due to meet all the political parties on Monday - the row could kill off any lingering hopes of progress. Sinn Fein called the allegations into question.
IMC report fails to accentuate the positive BBC News
Report says IRA still involved in criminality Telegraph.co.uk
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Nepal in turmoil: hundreds arrested, at least 15 killed Newindpress
KATHMANDU: Nepal turned into a seething cauldron of violent protests, widespread arrests and gun battles on the first anniversary of King Gyanendra's coup on Wednesday, with at least 15 people killed overnight as Maoist guerrillas struck police bases. Even as King Gyanendra said in a televised address on Wednesday morning that the rebels were indulging in "petty crimes", the Maoists struck in Tansen town, headquarters of Palpa, a scenic hill resort in western Nepal, attacking security bases, a police post, district prison and office of the district administration. The attacks, which started on Tuesday night and continued till Wednesday morning, left both the king and the state media red-faced after the latter reported 20 security personnel had been killed. The ministry of defence had the unpleasant task of rebutting the state media report to say 11 security personnel had been killed, besides four Maoists. However, there was fear the toll could rise with 143 policemen still remaining out of contact. Palpa and its surrounding areas remained out of contact as the rebels cut off telephone and power lines. A private television channel, Kantipur, said the rebels had freed all prisoners from the district jail. However, there was no immediate official confirmation of the news.
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What's driving the kidnappings in Iraq Christian Science Monitor
A wave of abductions is sweeping through Iraq - as evidenced this week by three videotaped demands by groups holding Western hostages. Since last fall the number of foreigners seized has spiked, following a prolonged lull. Meanwhile, Iraqis themselves are being kidnapped in large numbers - some months, more than 30 per day. These crimes occur for many reasons in a society that is still struggling with basic governance and security. But the political kidnappings that have received the most attention in the West - such as the case of American reporter Jill Carroll - may be terrorism of a particularly pure sort, say experts. In today's wired age, it's easier than ever to affect viewers around the world with powerful images of powerless hostages. And that may be the point of these terrible acts: to frighten the West, intimidate moderate Iraqis, and rally supporters. "The goal of terrorism has nothing to do with killing innocent victims, or the victims themselves," says Jerrold Post, director of the political psychology program at George Washington University. "The goal is to have an impact on outside audiences." Ms. Carroll was taken hostage on Jan. 7 in Baghdad. On Jan. 17 her captors - self-described as the "Brigades of Vengeance" - released a video in which they implied they would kill her within 72 hours if US forces and the Iraqi Interior Ministry did not release Iraqi women in their custody. On Monday, Al Jazeera broadcast a second video of the apparently distraught Carroll who was again calling for the release of female prisoners.
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Indonesian Ferry Sinks; 114 Rescued ABC News
Ferry Sinks in Eastern Indonesia; 114 People Rescued, but No Sign of Dozens of Others. Naval vessels picked up 114 survivors from a passenger ferry that went down in rough seas in eastern Indonesia, but there was no sign late Wednesday of dozens of others still missing, rescuers said. Groups of worried relatives flocked to the port in Kupang, where the ferry originated, to greet survivors as they disembarked from two navy ships. Many needed medical treatment after spending hours in the sea or hanging on to debris or lifeboats, witnesses said. "I felt like I was in a dream after the announcement that all the passengers must put on their life vests," said Adi Soruk, speaking from a hospital bed in Kupang, some 1,250 miles east of Jakarta. "I just knew the craft was going down," state news agency Antara quoted him as saying.
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Canberra Considers Dismantling Wheat Board Powers Yahoo! News
AWB Ltd. (AWB.AU) is set to lose its exclusive control of Australian wheat exports following bribery allegations raised at a government inquiry into Iraqi sales. Australian ministers are now debating how best to dismantle the export powers held by the AWB, a listed company that was for many years known as the Australian Wheat Board and has been on the radar of U.S. trade negotiators for some time. At stake is A$4.5 billion (US$3.4 billion) in annual wheat exports, which along with U.S. grains are a major supplier to global markets. AWB's monopoly has been a key sticking point in various trade talks, with Washington viewing the restrictive sales process in Australia as a market distortion. Treasurer Peter Costello said Wednesday that he favors a relaxation of the monopoly while Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran also acknowledged that it's time to change current export arrangements. "You're not going to have exactly the same situation that existed before the Cole Inquiry commenced to what will exist after it," McGauran said, referring to the inquiry established by Canberra to delve into allegations linking the AWB and the fallen regime of Saddam Hussein during the United Nation's oil-for-food program. Currently, AWB can veto any application for bulk overseas wheat sales by other companies, despite provisions existing for others to be licensed for exports, "The trouble is, nobody's ever been given such a license," Costello said. "If you ask me, in appropriate circumstances, those licenses should be given," Treasurer Costello said. AWB used its veto late last year when it twice rejected an application by Western Australian grain company Cooperative Bulk Handling Ltd. to export 100,000 tons of wheat to its mills in Asia. Headed by a former state judge, Terrence Cole, the inquiry began hearings Jan. 16 and has heard a slew of damaging allegations about US$221.7 million in kickbacks paid to the former Iraqi regime. Cole is due to hand down his report at the end of March, with the inquiry providing regular front page news and daily admissions from AWB executives wiping A$600 million off the company's market value.
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Kenyan minister quits over corruption charges Financial Times
Kenya’s finance minister resigned on Wednesday, becoming the first major casualty of allegations that cabinet members and other senior officials were involved in corrupt deals that could have cost the east African nation more than $270m. David Mwiraria, who had held the post since a coalition led by President Mwai Kibaki took office after winning December 2002 elections, said he resigned to pave the way for investigations. He has denied corruption allegations. However, the increasingly embattled president has come under intense pressure to take action and despite numerous scandals it was thought to be the first time a Kenyan minister had resigned in relation to such allegations. Mr Mwiraria, 67 and a long-time ally of Mr Kibaki, was one of several serving ministers named in a dossier produced by John Githongo, the country’s former anti-corruption tsar, which implicated senior officials in bogus financing deals involving the government and fictitious companies. Others named in the dossier, which was leaked last month, include Moody Awori, vice president, Kiraitu Murungi, the energy minister, as well as other officials close to Mr Kibaki, including the head of public service.
Kenyans welcome resignation of finance minister Xinhua
ANALYSIS - Resignation a welcome act of public grace Daily Nation (subscription)
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Saudi King arrives in Pakistan to a warm welcome Asian Tribune
Reporting from Islamabad. Islamabad, 02 February, (Asiantribune.com): King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia has arrived to a red carpet welcome in Islamabad on a two-day state visit to Pakistan. He was warmly received by Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmoud Kasuri, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal and other military, civil and diplomatic officials at the airport. 21 guns boomed as the distinguished guest alighted of his plane. Two kids dressed in traditional costume presented him floral wreaths. A smart contingent of the Pakistan Army presented guard of honour while the national anthems of both the countries were played. All roads in the capital of Pakistan have been profusely decorated with banners and portraits of the distinguished guest from Saudi Arabia, Pakistanis deem as the most respected soils on the earth. The federal capital has been tastefully decorated to accord warm and enthusiastic welcome to Khadim Al-Harmain Al-Sharifain King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz who will arrive Islamabad today, Wednesday on a two-day state visit to Pakistan. The entire capital and particularly the roads leading from airport to the President and the Prime Minister houses have been adorned with photographs of King Abdullah, President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and national flags of the two countries. King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz will hold wide-ranging talks with the Pakistani leadership including the security situation, bilateral ties and regional situation. During the visit of the king Pakistan and Saudi Arabia will sign five agreements focusing on cooperation in various fields particularly the education sector.
Malaysian, Saudi cos sign deals worth 800 mln usd Forbes
Saudi king makes Pakistan visit BBC News
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Two Australians dead in Egypt crash NEWS.com.au
TWO Australian citizens from the same family are among 14 people killed in a bus crash in Egypt. The two men were among a family of five adult Australians who resided in Hong Kong and were travelling on a tour bus which crashed in southern Egypt yesterday. A spokesman from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said two men from the family were killed and three women injured. "Two men from the family were killed and three women were hospitalised," the spokeswoman said. The family was with a tour group from Hong Kong. There were 44 adults on the bus when it crashed between Safaga and Hurghada on the Red Sea coast, the spokesman said. Australian consular officials were providing assistance to the family and their next of kin who have arrived in Eqypt. DFAT has not released the names of the victims. Egyptian officials said all 14 people who died, and 29 of the 30 injured were from Hong Kong.
Crash survivor lashes out The Standard
Egyptian, Chinese officials rush to help injured HK tourists Xinhua
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Bomb Kills Eight Iraqis Waiting for Work Forbes
A bomb planted near a tea stand killed eight men waiting for day labor in a largely Shiite area of Baghdad on Wednesday, and six other people died in violence across the country. A Shiite politician tapped as a possible prime minister predicted a new government would be in place by mid-March. The morning attack on the impoverished laborers in the capital's New Baghdad area appeared aimed at further inflaming sectarian tensions in this war-ravaged country, where Shiites trade accusations with Sunni Arabs of reprisal killings and kidnappings. Police said at least eight men were killed and more than 50 wounded in the bombing. Eyewitnesses said a man put down a bag of explosives that detonated near a tea cart. The blast occurred hours before Saddam Hussein's trial resumed on charges of involvement in the 1982 killings of more than 140 people. Iraq's most powerful politicians met to thrash out the formation of the next government. The U.S. wants the dominant Shiites and Kurds to welcome Sunni Arabs into the government in hopes this would take the steam out of the insurgency, which draws most of its support from the Sunni community.
Baghdad bomb kills eight labourers Scotsman
Eight Iraqis Killed in Baghdad Bombing ABC News
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UN watchdog weighs sending Iran to Security Council Reuters
The UN nuclear watchdog's board of governors began a crisis session on Thursday to decide whether to report Iran to the UN Security Council over fears that it is secretly trying to build atomic bombs. With diplomats forecasting passage of a resolution, agreed by the council's five permanent members, to send Iran's case to New York, Iran threatened to respond by halting U.N. spot checks of its atomic sites and pursuing wide-scale uranium enrichment. But U.S. and European Union leaders, in a nod to Russian, Chinese and developing world concerns, said Security Council involvement did not signal an end to diplomacy or mean that Iran would necessarily face punitive sanctions. The United States and its European allies persuaded Russia and China this week to back reporting Iran to the council after Tehran stripped IAEA seals from nuclear equipment on January 9, breaking a 2 1/2-year moratorium on atomic development activity. But the rare show of unity emerged only after Washington and the EU negotiating trio of Britain, France and Germany agreed the council would not act against Iran until after the IAEA's director reports to the agency's regular meeting on March 6. This would allow time for Russia and Iran to work on details of Moscow's offer to purify uranium for Tehran, a joint venture aimed at preventing diversion of nuclear fuel to bomb-making. "We seek to support the ongoing IAEA efforts with the weight of Security Council authority. We seek a carefully calibrated approach in which the Council applies escalating measures on Iran's regime," U.S. Ambassador Gregory Schulte told the board.
Roundup: Iran says determined to defend nuclear right People's Daily Online
IAEA holds extradionary meeting on Iran nuclear issue Xinhua
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The Chicago Tribune's Washington Bureau Chicago Tribune
Just received this in an email. Since Sheehan's arrest has drawn a number of comments, thougt this was important to share with Swamp readers. By Cindy Sheehan. As most of you have probably heard, I was arrested before the State of the Union Address last night. I am speechless with fury at what happened and with grief over what we have lost in our country. There have been lies from the police and distortions by the press. (Shocker) So this is what really happened: This afternoon at the People's State of the Union Address in DC where I was joined by Congresspersons Lynn Woolsey and John Conyers, Ann Wright, Malik Rahim and John Cavanagh, Lynn brought me a ticket to the State of the Union Address. At that time, I was wearing the shirt that said: 2245 Dead. How many more? After the PSOTU press conference, I was having second thoughts about going to the SOTU at the Capitol. I didn't feel comfortable going. I knew George Bush would say things that would hurt me and anger me and I knew that I couldn't disrupt the address because Lynn had given me the ticket and I didn't want to be disruptive out of respect for her. I, in fact, had given the ticket to John Bruhns who is in Iraq Veterans Against the War. However, Lynn's office had already called the media and everyone knew I was going to be there so I sucked it up and went. I got the ticket back from John, and I met one of Congresswoman Barbara Lee's staffers in the Longworth Congressional Office building and we went to the Capitol via the underground tunnel. I went through security once, then had to use the rest room and went through security again. My ticket was in the 5th gallery, front row, fourth seat in. The person who in a few minutes was to arrest me, helped me to my seat. I had just sat down and I was warm from climbing 3 flights of stairs back up from the bathroom so I unzipped my jacket. I turned to the right to take my left arm out, when the same officer saw my shirt and yelled; "Protester." He then ran over to me, hauled me out of my seat and roughly (with my hands behind my back) shoved me up the stairs. I said something like "I'm going, do you have to be so rough?" By the way, his name is Mike Weight.
Shirt tales different for Sheehan, Republican's wife CNN
The great T-shirt threat San Francisco Chronicle
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A more united front against Iran Christian Science Monitor
As Tehran resists efforts to clip its nuclear ambitions, tensions may mount before UN debate in March. Iran and its nuclear program are poised to become Topic No. 1 of the United Nations Security Council - but that doesn't mean that resolution of the international debate swirling around them is imminent. With Iran unlikely to back down under mounting international pressure - and perhaps prepared to take defiant measures, ratcheting up the crisis - tensions seem likely to grow before an expected Security Council meeting in March, rather than to subside. For now, the international community appears more united than before in a desire to curtail Iran's nuclear advance, and Tehran seems more isolated than ever. In an emergency session that continued at press time Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency was expected to pass a resolution reporting Iran to the Security Council, and calling on the IAEA to report to the council on Iranian violations of nuclear research commitments, for deliberations in March.
Iran nuke work not a crisis: IAEA Expressindia.com
Call made for atomic agency to act on Iran International Herald Tribune
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Backlash Over Cartoons Increase After Further Publications Muslim American Society
An international backlash over newspaper cartoons gathered pace on Thursday as more European dailies printed controversial caricatures and Muslims stepped up pressure to stop them. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned that the insistence of European newspapers on printing the cartoons of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) risked provoking a terrorist backlash, as protests escalate from a trade embargo by consumers, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). Two armed groups threatened to target Danes, French and Norwegians in the Palestinian territories after the cartoons were published in their respective countries and gunmen besieged E.U. offices in Gaza. Foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers began leaving Gaza as gunmen there threatened to kidnap citizens of France, Norway, Denmark and Germany unless those governments apologize for the cartoon, reports the Associated Press (AP). "All nationals and those who work in the diplomatic corps of these countries can be considered targets of the Popular Resistance Committee and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades," the two Palestinian groups warned. Militants in Gaza said they would shut down media offices from France, Norway, Denmark and Germany, singling out Agence France-Presse, reports the AP. Newspapers in various European countries have published, in the name of freedom of expression, sketches with the prophet wearing a bomb-shaped turban and as a sword-wielding nomad flanked by two women shrouded in black.
Protest ramps up over Muhammad cartoons CBC British Columbia (Audio)
Denmark embroiled in Muslim controversy Toronto Star
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EU backs Palestinian aid conditions Advertiser Adelaide
EUROPEAN Parliament politicians have voted to continue European Union aid to the Palestinians as long as a Hamas-led government commits to seeking peace with Israel and renounces violence. The EU is the biggest donor to the Palestinians with 500 million euro ($802 million) of aid last year, the bulk of which comes from common EU funds. Any decision on EU aid requires European Parliament approval. In their resolution, parliamentarians said future aid "will be dependent on the new government's clarification on denouncing violence and recognising Israel", reflecting the stance taken by EU foreign ministers at a meeting on Tuesday. The deputies also urged the Middle East Quartet - the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia - to take a "strong and urgent initiative" to promote negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis.
US wants Israel to unblock funds owed to Palestinian Authority Forbes
After Hamas winDilemma for Israeli, world policy makers Washington Jewish Week
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Saddam, lawyers stay away from trial Reuters
Saddam Hussein boycotted his trial for a second day on Thursday and his defense team also stayed away, saying the new chief judge wanted only to see the former Iraqi leader quickly hanged. The chairs normally occupied by Saddam and his seven co-defendants were empty as Chief Judge Raouf Abdel Rahman heard two prosecution witnesses recount their torture by Saddam's security forces after a failed bid to assassinate him in the Shi'ite town of Dujail in 1982. "We are not ready to be participants in a farcical trial without any legal basis that has already decided to convict President Saddam and execute him," Saddam's chief counsel, Khalil al-Dulaimi, told Reuters in the Jordanian capital Amman. Dulaimi accuses Abdel Rahman of bias and has demanded his removal. He said on Thursday he also wanted the chief prosecutor and a second prosecutor to be withdrawn from the U.S.-sponsored court, saying they, too, were biased against his client. Abdel Rahman is from the Kurdish town of Halabja, where 5,000 people, including some of his relatives, were gassed during an offensive by Saddam's security forces in 1988. He was appointed as chief judge after his predecessor, Rizgar Amin, also a Kurd, stepped down, amid accusations he had been too lenient on Saddam, whose tirades have dominated proceedings since they got under way on October 19.
Saddam Hussein trial delayed News24
Iraq: Hussein Trial Goes Forward Without Him RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
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Chaos reigns at airports Business Standard
Overflowing dustbins, filthy toilets, stationary conveyer belts, unattended trolleys, dysfunctional airconditioners and scarce drinking water were the order of the day at the airports today as the strike by the Airport Authority of India employees entered
Airport reforms: Make or break for Manmohan Asia Times Online
Indian airport workers strike for a second day Forbes
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Israelis split over outpost clash BBC News
Newspapers in Israel are divided over the use of force by Israeli troops to evacuate the Amona outpost near Ramallah in the West Bank. Some dailies express sorrow that the violence drove a wedge between the government and the settlers, with one saying "there were no victors and no vanquished". One paper condemns the use of force, or what it calls the "hard hand", but another supports the government, calling the settlers' behaviour "unacceptable".
Scores injured in West Bank clashes Chicago Tribune
Settlers go too far Ynetnews
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Boehner Elected House Majority Leader San Francisco Chronicle
House Republicans elected Rep. John Boehner of Ohio as their new majority leader Thursday, choosing a self-proclaimed reform candidate to replace indicted Rep. Tom DeLay as the party struggles with an ethics scandal. Boehner, flanked by Speaker Dennis Hastert and other members of the leadership, said Republicans will "rededicate ourselves to dealing with big issues that the American people expect us to deal with" — such as pocketbook and national security issues. Boehner, a 56-year-old veteran of 15 years in Congress, defeated the front-runner, Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, 122-109, after lagging behind his rival in a first, inconclusive vote. A third contender — John Shadegg of Arizona — withdrew after trailing his two rivals in the initial round of voting. While Boehner has had feuds with DeLay, Blunt was close to the former majority leader and had served as his top deputy. Blunt remains the GOP whip. "Believe me, the world goes on," he said. "We have a great leadership team," Blunt said. "We're going to work to make the Congress better; more importantly we're going to work to make the country better, and I look forward to working with John Boehner as majority leader to make that happen."
House Republicans to pick leader BBC News
Profile: John Boehner, R-Ohio Newsday
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Palestinian Employees' Wages to Be Delayed ABC News
Payment of Salaries of 137,000 Palestinian Government Employees to Be Delayed at Least Two Weeks. The Palestinian Authority will delay paying the January salaries of 137,000 government employees for at least two weeks because of a severe post-election budget crunch, a senior Palestinian official said Thursday. The Palestinian Authority needs $116 million to cover the monthly payroll. After the election victory of the Islamic militant Hamas last week, Israel said it was suspending its monthly tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority, worth about $45 million dollars, pending further review. The Palestinian official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is involved in negotiations with donor countries for aid money.
Palestinians offered emergency cash Scotsman
Yes, risk the Arab democratic challenge Daily Star - Lebanon
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Ignore guns furore, urges Adams Scotsman
Gerry Adams urged the British and Irish Governments to ignore a major row over alleged IRA weapons retention and prove they can advance the troubled Northern Ireland peace process. The Sinn Fein president also insisted the Provisionals had dealt decisively with their guns as his party demanded the disbandment of a ceasefire watchdog that provoked uproar with its arms assessment. Amid a deepening political storm over the Independent Monitoring Commission claiming it had reports the IRA still had access to a range of weapons, Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde refused to be dragged into the controversy by disclosing whether the intelligence came from his force. The furore has further poisoned attempts by London and Dublin to inject momentum into the process. Ahead of their talks with all the main political parties at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down on Monday, Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists warned they were not prepared to return to power-sharing with Sinn Fein. Their stance was based on the IMC declaring the IRA was still heavily involved in spying, money laundering, smuggling, as well as the huge uncertainty over how complete the terrorist organisation's final act of decommissioning last September really was. But Mr Adams insisted that his party was not prepared to simply wait for the DUP to grasp the new political realities. He said: "The IRA have dealt decisively with the issue of arms. It cannot be done again. Those opposed to this process are attempting to bring all of us down a cul-de-sac. The West Belfast MP added: "The two governments have stated that they wish to see rapid progress made in the time ahead. This is possible, if the two governments display the necessary political will and the primacy of the political process is asserted. They need to match their rhetoric with action." His call came as Sir Hugh faced demands to reveal the source of intelligence contained in the IMC report.
Analysis: Ulster peace process in jeopardy United Press International
Preaching mad Chicago Tribune
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Jimmy Carter: Give Hamas a chance CNN International
Hamas deserves to be recognized by the international community, and despite the group's militant history, there is a chance the soon-to-be Palestinian leaders could turn away from violence, former President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday. Carter, who monitored last week's Palestinian elections in which Hamas handily toppled the ruling Fatah, added that the United States should not cut off aid to the Palestinian people, but rather funnel it through third parties like the U.N. "If you sponsor an election or promote democracy and freedom around the world, then when people make their own decision about their leaders, I think that all the governments should recognize that administration and let them form their government," Carter said. (Watch the former president cautiously defend Hamas -- 4:35) "If there are prohibitions -- like, for instance, in the United States, against giving any money to a government that is controlled by Hamas -- then the United States could channel the same amount of money to the Palestinian people through the United Nations, through the refugee fund, through UNICEF, things of that kind," he added. Carter expressed hope that "the people of Palestine -- who already suffer ... under Israeli occupation -- will not suffer because they are deprived of a right to pay their school teachers, policemen, welfare workers, health workers and provide food for people."
Bush sets terms for engagement with Hamas Reuters Canada
AP: Bush Doesn't Think Rice Will Run Forbes
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Kenya vice-president defies graft resignation calls Reuters.uk
Kenya's vice-president defied a barrage of calls to resign over graft allegations on Thursday, a day after a cabinet colleague quit in a growing government scandal that has put a spotlight on corruption in Africa. "I am not resigning, I've committed no crime," Awori, 78, a veteran of the Kenyan political scene and a key ally of President Mwai Kibaki, told a news conference. He spoke a day after David Mwiraria stepped down as finance minister following claims he too was involved in the "Anglo Leasing" scam which has angered Kenyans and Western donors. Mwiraria was the most high-profile figure to leave an African government over graft allegations since South African President Thabo Mbeki last year fired his deputy Jacob Zuma. Western nations are putting pressure on Africa to improve its governance record in exchange for aid and debt relief. In Kenya's case, the anti-graft body is investigating Mwiraria, Awori, another minister, and a prominent ex-minister over the Anglo Leasing case in which money was paid to a fictitious firm for non-existent tenders. All deny involvement. Awori said there was no reason for him to step down, since allegations by former anti-corruption chief John Githongo that he helped cover up large payments to a phantom firm were false. "I have been accused in the media ... of being corrupt. I have been called a thief, a bandit and other names," he said. But, he added: "At no time have I advocated any cover-up ... I had nothing to cover up."
1-Kenya vice-president defies calls to quit Reuters
Official Resigns After Corruption Allegations Los Angeles Times
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Joint Communique: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia vow to fight Terror PakistanTimes.net
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia Thursday agreed to increase cooperation in fighting terrorism, money laundering and drugs trafficking. Saudi King Abdullah held talks with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on a wide range of issues, said a joint statement issued at the end of the monarch's two-day visit to Pakistan. "There is a need to intensify and coordinate bilateral, regional and
international cooperation to combat terrorism and to eradicate its root causes," the statement said. The two Islamic nations said they would cooperate to "fight the menace of terrorism and other international crimes such as money laundering, drugs trafficking and arms smuggling in a sustained and comprehensive manner," it said. Musharraf and King Abdullah also discussed the situation in the Palestinian territories, the Middle East and Iran, it said. "The two sides expressed their hope that Hamas will form a government which preserves the legitimate rights of the Palestinians, safeguard their interests and work for progress in the peace process," the statement said.
Saudi Arabia looks East The New Nation
Bollywood accused of making a mockery of Musharraf Newindpress
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NEPAL: Testimony by a victim of torture at the hands of the army Reuters AlertNet
Shivering with fear and pain, wounds all over his face and body, it is hard for Anoj (not his real name) to recall the torture he was subjected to at the hands of Nepal's security forces inside the army's main barracks in the capital, Kathmandu. Looking feeble and ill, he may not live long if he fails to get proper medical treatment. The period since 1 February 2005 when King Gyanendra assumed direct rule of the Himalayan kingdom has been characterised by the widespread arrests of political activists, human rights defenders, trade unionists and journalists - the government's apparent aim to prevent protest against the takeover. Local human rights organisations estimate that more than 3,000 people have been arrested since 1 February, many of them been held in preventive detention. Anoj says he believes it was a phone call from an enemy of his family to the security forces, that led to his arrest on suspicion of being a Maoist insurgent. In July 2005, he says, he was brutally battered, pounded, punched, caned and given electric shocks until he collapsed. "I was sleeping when six or seven soldiers came into our flat early one morning. My brother-in-law was nearly shot when he asked why they were arresting me. As soon as I was dragged inside a van, they tied my hands and blindfolded me. They pushed me down onto the floor of the vehicle. Then, one of the soldiers started wrenching my stomach and pounded my head. Another grabbed my testicles so hard that I still feel the pain. They kept on battering for another 30 minutes – after that I could not scream anymore, I fainted.
Nepalese king talks of progress as rebels kill at least 20 International Herald Tribune
When a king's looking-glass world is paid for in blood Guardian Unlimited
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Egyptian Ferry With 1300 Passengers Sinks The Moderate Voice
A tragic story out of Egypt that reminds us that no form of travel is totally safe: — An Egyptian ferry with 1,414 people on board sank in the Red Sea after leaving Saudi Arabia, Egyptian officials said. An undetermined number of people survived, an Egyptian port official in Safaga was cited as saying by the country's official news service, MENA. There was no immediate information on why the ship went down, 100 kilometers (62 miles) off the Saudi coast. There were thunderstorms late yesterday in the area where the vessel, Salam 98, was last seen on radar. "A massive air and sea rescue is under way,'' involving the Egyptian and Saudi armed forces, Ayman al-Kaffas, a spokesman for the Egyptian Embassy in London, told Sky News in a live interview. ``This is a vast area of water that you can't cover in a short period of time.''
Egypt: Survivors, bodies found USA Today
Dozens Dead After Egyptian Ship Disaster ABC News
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Anger sweeps Middle East over cartoons of Mohammad San Diego Union Tribune
Muslim anger erupted across the Middle East after Friday prayers, as crowds emerged from mosques burning European flags and vowing revenge for 'blasphemous' cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad printed in European newspapers. 'We will not accept less than severing the heads of those responsible,' one preacher told worshippers at the al-Omari Mosque in the Gaza Strip as tensions spread over the publication of the cartoons, first in Denmark and later in Norway, France, Germany and Spain. In several Gulf Arab countries, shops and supermarkets took Danish products off their shelves and posted signs announcing their ban. Text messages circulated by phone urged the faithful to boycott Danish food 'in the name of Islam'. 'We must tell Europeans, we can live without you. But you cannot live without us,' prominent Muslim cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi told worshippers in Qatar. 'We can buy from China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia... we will not be humiliated.' In Lebanon, thousands of Palestinian refugees marched through the streets of their camps, burning Danish and Norwegian flags and calling on Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader, to avenge the Prophet Mohammad.
Anger over Mohammad cartoons spreads Reuters
More outrage over Prophet cartoons Aljazeera.net
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Calls for ME N-free zone complicate Iran talks IranMania News
Demands by some non-aligned countries to include mention of a Middle East nuclear-weapons-free zone in a UN atomic agency resolution on Iran are complicating talks on sending Iran to the UN Security Council, diplomats said Friday. The resumption of the debate by the board of International Atomic Energy Agency was delayed by two hours to 1600 GMT to allow for consultations on the question, the UN nuclear watchdog said, according to AFP. The non-aligned representatives want the zone to be mentioned if Iran is to be reported to the Security Council for its nuclear program but the United States opposes this, diplomats said. A vote was expected Friday but diplomats said this may have to wait until Saturday due to the argument. "The Americans are worried that once it (mention of a nuclear-weapons-free zone) is there (in the resolution), it will stay there forever and allow the Iranians to hide behind it," avoiding complying with IAEA demands, one said. Diplomats said Egypt was lobbying strongly for the zone to be mentioned. Egypt and other Arab states regularly bring up the matter at IAEA general conferences, insisting that Israel, which is believed to have nuclear arms but refuses to admit it, be part of a general security framework in the Middle East that bans such weapons.
IAEA set to vote on Iran’s UNSC referral Aljazeera.com
Nuclear watchdog likely to report Iran to UN CBC News
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Kabul`s Mission Impossible Monsters and Critics.com
The vote in the Dutch parliament Friday to send up to 1,400 of their troops to the NATO mission in Afghanistan may help save the battered credibility of the alliance, but it faces something dreadfully close to Mission Impossible. The United States wants to withdraw some 4,000 troops from the Afghan mission. NATO, or at least its energetic new Dutch secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, wants to be seen as militarily useful so it has deployed its first mission outside the traditional European theater of operations. For the past two years, NATO has deployed some 9,000 troops in and around Kabul. The force includes some 2,000 Germans, about a thousand Turks, the same number of Canadians and just over 500 from Italy, Belgium, Spain and Britain, which is about to send some 3,200 more. The Canadians are being reinforced to about 2,200, and the overall NATO contingent should soon amount to over 15,000 troops, and moving into some of the dangerous regions that have hitherto be mainly manned by U.S. forces. The British are being deployed to Helmand province, a dangerous zone where the Taliban remains powerful, and which has seen 100 U.S. troops killed over the past 6 months -- an ominous figure, given that the 100th British soldier has just been killed in Iraq. In order to reinforce this NATO mission, the Dutch went through an agonizing public debate and a political row that brought up all the old European resentments about the Bush administration and the Iraq war, and for a while it threatened to sink the government. The government had to make all sorts of promises, like an insistence that no detained Afghan would be allowed to end up in the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to win the vote. And they pledged that the Dutch troops would be under strict Rules of Engagement that would let them fight back, but not initiate hostilities, nor fight alongside the U.S. forces on aggressive patrol missions.
Dutch parliament votes on NATO troops RTE.ie
More Dutch troops to Afghanistan Radio Netherlands
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Airport staff may call off strike Business Standard
Following Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s assurance that jobs of Airport Authority of India (AAI) employees at Delhi and Mumbai airports will be protected, the joint federation of the employees unions has agreed to consider calling off the strike. “The prime minister has made an appeal to call off the strike; we are meeting to consider the issue very seriously,” MK Goshal, convenor of All India AAI Employees’ Joint federation, told reporters after a 90-minute meeting with the prime minister.
However, according to sources, Singh told the employees categorically that the decision to privatise and modernise the Delhi and Mumbai airports would not be called off.
PM meets Left in a bid to end strike Expressindia.com
Striking success! PM to meet airport workers Financial Express
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Australia to examine oil-for-food scandal Seattle Post Intelligencer
An inquiry will examine whether Australia's government knew the country's main wheat exporter paid hundreds of millions of dollars in kickbacks into Saddam Hussein's coffers under the U.N. oil-for-food program, the head of the investigation said Friday. AWB Ltd. - the single largest supplier of humanitarian goods under the discredited U.N. program - is the focus of the government inquiry into whether it knowingly paid up to $222 million in bogus transport fees to a Jordanian trucking firm partly owned by Saddam's government to keep lucrative wheat contracts under the U.N. program. The money then was allegedly diverted to the former Iraqi dictator. While AWB is the focus of the inquiry, Prime Minister John Howard's government is coming under increased scrutiny. Howard vehemently denied again Friday that his government was aware of the scheme after documents emerged Thursday suggesting that officials had been tipped off as early as 2003. The documents were written by the Coalition Provisional Authority - the U.S. occupying government in Iraq - in June 2003 and sent to former AWB manager Michael Long, who then forwarded them to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, or DFAT, according to testimony before the government inquiry.
Seems we've lost our thrill on Capitol Hill Sydney Morning Herald
Wheat inquiry head slams US jibe CNN International
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Another "Downing St. memo" on Bush, Blair & Iraq? USA Today
There are reports out of Britain today about another memo that purportedly shows British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush decided to go to war with Iraq earlier than they've admitted. The topic is the No. 1 news search on Technorati. The buzz is reminiscent of last summer's frenzy over the "Downing Street memo."

Here's what's happening:
Late Thursday, The Guardian and Britain's Channel 4 broke the news: - The Guardian said "Tony Blair told President George Bush that he was 'solidly' behind U.S. plans to invade Iraq before he sought advice about the invasion's legality and despite the absence of a second UN resolution, according to a new account of the build-up to the war." The newspaper's source: "a new edition of Lawless World, by Phillipe Sands, a QC and professor of international law at University College, London. Professor Sands last year exposed the doubts shared by Foreign Office lawyers about the legality of the invasion in disclosures which eventually forced the prime minister to publish the full legal advice given to him by the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith." Sands, The Guardian reported, had obtained "a memo of a two-hour meeting between the two leaders at the White House on January 31 2003 - nearly two months before the invasion." According to Sands, the newspaper wrote, the memo "reveals that Mr. Bush made it clear the U.S. intended to invade whether or not there was a second U.N. resolution and even if U.N. inspectors found no evidence of a banned Iraqi weapons programme." The Guardian reported that "Downing Street did not deny the existence of the memo ... but said: 'The prime minister only committed UK forces to Iraq after securing the approval of the House of Commons in a vote on March 18, 2003.' " (Downing Street refers to the prime minister's office.) - Channel 4, meanwhile, reported essentially the same story and claimed that it too "has seen a memo of the white house meeting." (Its video report is available here, but you must register and pay to view it.) The news network did not make clear, however, whether it had obtained a copy of the memo independently or whether Sands had shown it the memo - leaving open the possibility that the story is still based on one source (Sands). Update at 1:40 p.m. ET: The folks at Channel 4 say you can watch the report for free here.
Report: Bush, Blair decided to go to war months before UN meetings Christian Science Monitor
Blair backed war 'before UN vote' CNN
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