recent issues

FBI Director: No Conclusions in US Embassy Bombing

NAIROBI, Kenya -- FBI Director Louis Freeh declared Friday, day after US strikes in Sudan and Afghanistan, he had come to ``no final conclusions'' about who bombed two U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania two weeks ago. Clinton administration officials said were linked to a wealthy Saudi militant, Osama bin Laden. ``We have made no final conclusions,'' Freeh said. ``We are at a fairly preliminary stage, the investigation is only two weeks old.'' [AP]

Yeltsin Condemns U.S. Attacks

MURMANSK, Russia -- Boris Yeltsin denounced American attacks on alleged terrorist sites in Sudan and Afghanistan, telling reporters Friday that the U.S. action was ``indecent.'' ``I am indignant, and I condemn (them),'' Yeltsin said. ``I didn't know that this strike would be carried out, and that means the whole world was unaware of that. And this makes the strike even more indecent.'' In the State Duma, the Lower House of Russian parliament, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov said the United States was ``moving toward a policy of state terrorism.'' The Duma also passed a resolution urging the government to consider canceling a Sept. 1-3 Moscow summit between Yeltsin and Clinton. The Duma also hinted it may again postpone ratification of the START-II arms reduction treaty. [AP]

UK engineers say no chemical weapons at Sudan plant

LONDON (Reuters) - A British engineer who worked at the factory in Sudan attacked by the United States last week told Sunday's Observer newspaper that it was not used to make chemical weapons. ``I have intimate knowledge of that factory and it just does not lend itself to the manufacture of chemical weapons,'' Tom Carnaffin, who worked as technical manager for the plant's owners between 1992 and 1996, told the Observer. ``It (the factory) just isn't equipped to cope with the demands of chemical weapon manufacturing,'' Carnaffin said.

Sudanese President Criticizes U.S.

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- ``Clinton and America will have to pay!'' Sudan's president proclaimed Friday, rallying his citizens in the aftermath of an U.S. missile strike. President Omar el-Bashir held an emergency meeting Friday with his Cabinet, then said Sudan could ``prove that the factory is specifically for pharmaceutical production'' and not the chemical weapons plant described by U.S. officials. He also said "we will not be bullied by Americans." Sudan television said the factory, which opened in 1996, produced about half of the country's medicines. Its main products were reported to be antibiotics and drugs to treat malaria and tuberculosis. The United Nations confirmed Friday that it had contracted the el-Shifa plant to supply 100,000 liters of veterinary pharmaceuticals for Iraq under the oil-for-food program. El-Bashir recalled Sudanese diplomats from Washington and said his government would file complaints about the American strike with the United Nations, the Arab League and the Organization of African Unity. Sidahmed Hajj Hamad, administrative director at the factory, estimated the damage at $100 million. Pills, smashed plastic medicine bottles and paper cartons were scattered over the ground. ``The timing was chosen to serve the wish of a sexual pervert and maniac to divert attention away from his crumbling credibility and reputation,'' a statement from the Sudanese Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, said. [AP]

Muslim Leader Killed in Russia

MAKHACHKALA, Russia -- A local Muslim leader was killed in a car bombing Friday in Russia's southern region of Dagestan, officials said. Dagestan is an overwhelmingly Muslim majority region of Russia, which is following the path of Chechnya. Mufti Said-Mohammad Abubakarov, Dagestan's Muslim leader, died along with his brother when their car was blown up by a radio-controlled bomb after prayers at the main mosque in Makhachkala, the regional capital. Their driver also was killed, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. [AP]

White House: Israel won't accept U.S. pullback proposal

The Clinton administration has told Palestinian negotiators it sees no chance that Israel will accept a U.S. peace proposal for a further pullback in the West Bank, and the administration is urging the Palestinians to get the best deal they can in direct negotiations, White House officials confirmed to CNN on Thursday. [CNN]

Indonesian Muslim group launches political party

Indonesia's largest Muslim group, Nadlatul Ulama (NU), officially launched a new political party on Thursday to contest general elections expected in May next year. The Nation Awakening Party (Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa) will be led by Matori Abdul Djalil, a former member of the Muslim-oriented United Development Party (PPP). [CNN]

Bangladesh floods kill 375, threaten Dhaka dam

Floods sweeping Bangladesh have killed at least 242 people and destroyed the homes or disrupted the lives of millions, disaster control officials said on Friday. [Associated Press]

Chechnya’s president survives assassination attempt

Chechnya's president narrowly survived an assassination attempt Thursday when a car bomb badly damaged his motorcade and seriously wounded his bodyguards in the capital of the rebel republic, news reports said. [Associated Press]

Tehran mayor sentenced to five years in prison.

The reformist mayor of Tehran was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison on corruption charges. [CNN]

India reported to have nuclear subs by 2007

India will launch its first nuclear-powered submarine within the next eight to nine years, Jane's Defense Weekly said on Thursday. Official Indian sources quoted by the magazine said the keel for what is known as the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) will be laid by 2001/2, two years after completion of land tests on its reactor. This will be followed by its launch around 2006/7, the authoritative magazine said. [CNN]

Philippine Muslim group in talks plea to Estrada

Zamboanga City, Philippine: Changes in the government peace panel and recent bloody clashes with the military led the Philippines' largest Moslem separatist group to urge President Joseph Estrada yesterday to speed up the peace process in the south to avert war. Ghazali Jaafar, chief peace negotiator for the Moro islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said the group fears the removal of four members of the government negotiating panel will further stall the talks suspended since May. "There will be war in the south if the peace talks failed," Jaafar said. "We do not want these hostilities to happen." [AP]

Clinton Administration asked to work toward International War Crime Court’s demise.

WASHINGTON -- Frustrated by the United States' failure to get the kind of international war crimes court it wanted, Senate critics asked the Clinton administration to work toward the court's demise. Sen. Rod Grams, R-Minn., said Thursday he hoped the war crimes tribunal approved by 120 countries in Rome last week would ``share the same fate as the League of Nations, and collapses without U.S. support.'' In a major diplomatic setback, the United States declined to sign a treaty creating the court it promoted for years because American officials felt the final accord yielded too much prosecutorial power to the new court, leaving U.S. troops and citizens vulnerable to what they said was potentially unfair prosecution. Instead, the United States watched much of the world, including most of its closest allies, approve the treaty in spite of long-argued U.S. reservations. In voting against it, the United States found itself siding only with countries frequently accused of human rights violations: Iraq, China, Libya, Qatar, Yemen and Israel. [AP]

Israel interrogation deplored

GENEVA: A UN rights panel yesterday said it was "deeply concerned" by Israel's use of "moderate physical pressure" against alleged terrorists during interrogation to extract information crucial to saving lives. The UN Human Rights Committee issued a series of conclusions following examination of an Israeli government report on the Jewish State’s compliance with an international civil and political rights treaty. [Gulf-Times]