Contributors
PriscillaPenwright
Mel West

08.27.05 Israel urges PA to crack down on Hamas after video release

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) August 27 – Hamas on Saturday released a rare videotape of a man it said is the bomb maker pursued by Israeli security forces for more than a decade. The man, identifying himself as Israel's most-wanted terrorist, Muhammad Deif, described Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a victory for armed resistance, rejected calls for his group to disarm, and vowed to continue attacks on Israel until the Jewish state is erased from the map.

"You are leaving Gaza today in shame," he said. "Today you are leaving hell. But we promise you that tomorrow all Palestine will be hell for you, God willing." [More>>Jerusalem Post]

---

08.27.05 Chirac insists Turkey's unchanged stance on Cyprus not in EU spirit

August 27 – Turkey's declaration that its signing of a key European Union protocol did not change its stance on Cyprus was not "in the spirit" of a country trying to join the EU, French President Jacques Chirac said. Chirac's spokesman said the president told EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso during talks in Paris that this declaration "poses political and legal problems and that it's not in the spirit of what one expects from a candidate to join the Union."

"That's why we want to discuss this with our partners" at the next EU foreign ministers' meeting on September 1-2" in Wales, he said.

Chirac told Barroso that France "had questions over the interpretative declaration Turkey added to its protocol of adhesion." Turkey on July 29 signed an accord extending a custom's agreement to the newest EU members, including Cyprus, but declared in an annex that this did not amount to recognition of the Greek Cypriot government. [More>>dailystar.com.lb]

---

08.27.05 US military frees 1,000 Iraq detainees amid charter talks

BAGHDAD (AFP) August 27 – The US military announced on Saturday that it had released around 1,000 prisoners from the infamous Abu Ghraib prison over the past three days amid efforts to win Sunni Arab endorsement for a new Iraqi constitution. A statement confirmed that most of those freed were Sunnis although it added that they represented different Iraqi communities and stressed that none were suspected of serious acts of violence. It was the largest single release from the jail since the US military took it over as a detention facility in the aftermath of the March 2003 invasion. [More>>khaleejtimes.com]

---

08.27.05 Al-Qaeda targeting US, Australia: South Korea intelligence

SEOUL, August 27 – Al-Qaeda has listed the United States and Australia as prime targets for attacks this year along with Britain, South Korea's spy agency has reported, according to a lawmaker on Saturday. South Korea, Japan and the Philippines are secondary targets, South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) told parliament this week, quoting a "senior" Al-Qaeda member arrested last month. "According to NIS, this terrorist testified that South Korea, Japan and the Philippines are secondary targets, while the United States, Britain and Australia are the prime targets for this year," a lawmaker told media. [jang.com.pk]

---

08.27.05 Bush's popularity hits all time low

WASHINGTON (PTI) August 27 – US President George W. Bush's popularity rating has plunged to an all time low since he assumed office four and a half years ago, a survey has found. Continuing its downward slide, the President's approval rating in the month of August dipped by four per cent to touch the lowest level of 40 per cent, according to the Gallup poll.

While he managed to garner the approval of 40 per cent of Americans, a staggering 56 per cent of the respondents opined that his performance in the White House was not satisfactory. [More>>indiaexpress.com; See also Chinadaily.com.cn, etc.]

---

08.27.05 Sunni infighting involving Al-Qaeda erupts in Iraq

RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) August 27 – Two Sunni Arab tribes, one loyal to al Qaeda and the other to the government, clashed in western Iraq, killing at least 20 people and wounding scores, clerics and hospital officials in the town said on Saturday. The tribes fought months ago and violent confrontations erupted again on Friday and Saturday near Qaim, where US Marines launched several offensives to root out insurgents from May to July. Clerics in the town say members of the Karabilah tribe – allied to Al-Qaeda – attacked homes of the rival Albu-Mehel tribe – many of whom are members of Iraq's new security forces in their province of Anbar. Witnesses from the town said the tribes were involved in intense fire fights and mortar attacks in the streets. The US military confirmed that two tribes were fighting but had no information on casualties. ..Hospital officials say they have received 20 bodies in the past day but that the death toll is likely to be much higher as tribes often perform quick burials and the hospital is in the control of Al-Qaeda – leaving Albu-Mehel to send their casualties elsewhere. [Full story>>thestar.com.my]

---

08.27.05 Scientists: Possible medicine found for SARS treatment

GUANGHOU, August 27 – Scientists announced a possible breakthrough in the treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) on Friday. According to their report in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, small interfering Ribonucleic Acid (siRNA), able to target specific genes, is showing efficiency in combating the disease.

SARS, first recognized in 2002, killed 774 people worldwide before it was brought under control by quarantine, isolating patients and restricting travel. Since then, researchers led by Zhong Nanshan, director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases, have been working to find drugs and vaccines to prevent another outbreak. [More>>chinadaily.com.cn]

---

08.27.05 Teikoku Oil to drill despite risk of Chinese interruption

TOKYO, August 27 – Teikoku Oil Co President Masatoshi Sugioka on Friday indicated the company's readiness to conduct test drilling in prospective East China Sea gas fields despite the risk of Chinese interruption. The Japanese government licensed Teikoku Oil in July to conduct test drilling in the East China Sea close to natural gas fields China is developing. China criticized Japan's action. [japantoday.com]

---

08.27.05 Firms sign deals to co-develop Venezuela oilfields

August 27 – State oil companies from China, the world's second-largest oil importer, and fifth-largest exporter Venezuela are strengthening their partnership by co-investing in oil fields in the South American country. China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), the parent company of the nation's largest oil producer listed in Hong Kong, PetroChina, on Thursday signed an initial agreement with Venezuela's state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), to develop and manage Venezuela's Zumano oil fields in the eastern part of the country, PDVSA said in a statement on its website. [More>>chinadaily.com.cn]

---

08.26.05 Sheehan to follow Bush to Washington D.C. – "to give him his performance review"

August 26 – Perhaps the only thing worse for President Bush would be to have a mad dog biting at his leg, unable to shake it off. Sheehan refuses to let him leave her behind in Crawford, Texas. From a news conference today David Swanson of afterdowningstreet.com reports:

...Next to speak was Cindy who announced that a bus tour will travel from here to Washington, D.C., leaving here on the 31st and arriving there by September 24, the day of the massive anti-war demonstration. Cindy said that she would be on the bus tour for the first two days, but that after that she had other engagements that had been scheduled before Camp Casey began. But, she said that she would join everyone in DC on the 24th.

Tomorrow, Cindy said, a huge crowd is expected at Camp Casey. And pro-war demonstrators are expected too. Cindy said that she and those with her are not looking for any trouble and are here in peace and are cooperating with the sheriff's department and the Secret Service...When asked what she thought of the counter demonstrators, Cindy said that it was their right to demonstrate. She said that she actually preferred the current situation to the one of apathy that existed some months back. "Those who have been on the fence – at least most of us have fallen off on one side. People are putting their money where their mouths areŠ.Democracy only works if people participate."

Another reporter asked "Do you think the President should be influenced by protests or should make his own judgment?"

"No," said Cindy, "I think the President works for us." This remark was followed by laughter and cheers. Cindy went on to point out that polls show a majority of the country agreeing with those at Camp Casey.

"What I wanted when I came out here," she said, eliciting more laughter from the press, "was just a performance review for the president."

...The last question asked was what Cindy would say to Iraqis who want the US in Iraq. Cindy replied that we did not need the military presence.

---

08.26.05 Trends in coalition casualties in Iraq

August 26 – To get a good, historical view of casualties from the Iraq war go to icasualties.org. Two lmaps on their site: The US Fatalities City Map & Coalition Fatalities by location across time.

---

08.26.05 Washington to be sued over global warming

WASHINGTON, August 26 – In a landmark judgment, a court in California has allowed a coalition of environmental groups to sue the US government over global warming - the first time a court has recognized the potentially disastrous impact of climate change. A judge in San Francisco gave permission for the two groups, along with four US cities, to sue two federal development agencies that provide billions of dollars in loans to fund projects overseas. Some of the projects are power plants that emit greenhouse gases while others include pipeline projects that allow the transfer of oil.

"This is the first time a US court has given a plaintiff the right to go to court solely on the global warming issue," Geoff Hand, a Vermont-based lawyer in the case, told The Independent. "It's a great advance."

Mr. Hand said the case would not strictly be an examination of global warming science, but he added: "We have dealt with the jurisdiction issues - the case will now go on to the merits. It essentially puts the onus on to the government and means they have to show global warming is not happening. It will have to provide evidence to say it is not happening." [More>>independent.co.uk]

---

08.26.05 Korea to press Japan on legal responsibility for acts of war

August 26 – The Korean government will keep pressing for diplomatic measures against Japan's past illegal and inhumane crimes against Koreans during its 1910-45 colonial rule because the Japanese government still carries legal responsibility, the Prime Minister's Office said yesterday. The government concluded that Korea-Japan negotiations between 1951 and 1965 were about settling claims deriving from the colonial period and were not about compensation for its illegal human rights violations and damages.

The Japanese government thus still carries legal obligations to compensate for its past government's "atrocious actions" such as taking away Korean women to serve as sex slaves for the Japanese military, the government here said.

The declaration coincided with the full disclosure by the Foreign Ministry here of classified diplomatic documents detailing 14 years of behind-the-scenes dealings between Korea and Japan over reparations to be paid by Japan before normalizing bilateral ties in 1965. It was the second disclosure of documents, totaling 35,354 pages of 156 books containing letters, memorandums and other material written by the Korean Foreign Ministry and exchanged with its Japanese counterpart from October 1951 to June 1965. [More>>koreaherald.co.kr]

Editorial note: When a country invades another and occupies it there is an assumption of responsibility for the consequences on the part of the invading nation and its citizens – for future generations, as seen in this issue involving Japan's invasion of Korea –until a settlement is attained. Thus, the invasion of Iraq by George W. Bush may have continuing adverse consequences for generations of American citizens. The Iraq War was declared "illegal" by Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, and this is a foundation, together with opposing complaints by member UN nations, for future claims against the United States. Had Bush obtained UN support – conducting the war as a UN operation – the consequences of the invasion and occupation would have rested upon the Iraqi people.
Mel Copeland

---

08.26.05 With Bush's man installed, is this the end of diplomacy?

August 26 – Anne Penketh, Diplomatic Editor, The Independent, provides a critique on UN Ambassador Bolton's performance: ...prime real estate land on Manhattan's East River became international territory to house the UN headquarters, thanks to a unanimous invitation from the representatives of the US Congress. The chief architect was an American, and the money to build the 39-storey tower was an interest-free US loan of $65m.

How things have changed. With the arrival of the hawkish Mr. Bolton to do the bidding of George Bush at the UN, relations between the US and the UN have never looked so bad. UN insiders say the US hostility against Kofi Annan, the secretary general, is much worse than during the time of his Egyptian predecessor, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who failed to win a second term after being dumped by the Clinton administration.

...During the Cold War, the UN was stalemated, because the Soviet Union and the US systematically used their Security Council vetoes against each other to paralyze UN action. The institution's glory years came in the early 1990s, after the Americans managed to win UN approval in 1991 to roll back the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

...As Ronald Reagan's radical Republicans took power in the White House and in Congress, the first major budget headaches began for the UN, as Washington began withholding the dues that keep it afloat.

Despite the lip service paid by the Clinton administration, the country that foots a quarter of the UN's budget has consistently dragged its heels in paying its dues. Congress, Republican-dominated, is now talking about withholding half of the US contribution unless US-backed changes are implemented.

Enter John Bolton. His nomination was so controversial the President failed to win cross-party backing and he was appointed in a so-called "recess appointment" valid only until the new Congress in January 2007. But judging from his few weeks in New York, Mr. Bolton is not at the UN to negotiate. [Full story>>independent.co.uk]

---

08.26.05 Gaza status change to be opposed

August 26 – ...The minister charged with liaison with Israel over the pullout, Mohammed Dahlan, echoed Qidwa's comments. "Gaza will remain under the control of the occupier, who will continue to weigh heavily on our lives through control of border crossings, air space and territorial waters," he said. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told a Kuwaiti daily last week that he planned to ask the Security Council to declare the occupation of Gaza over and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is to address the UN General Assembly next month as part of Israeli efforts to improve its standing with the world body.

Any move to change Gaza's status would be a sharp shift away from the provisions of the 1993 Oslo accords which foresaw the Palestinian territories' occupied status being maintained right up to a full peace treaty. [Full story>>aljazeera.net]

---

08.26.05 Bird flu detected at another Ibaraki farm

TOKYO, August 26 – Chickens at a farm in Ogawa, Ibaraki Prefecture, have tested positive for the H5 strain of the bird flu virus, said the farm ministry and government Thursday. Monday the government reported that another farm in the prefecture had been infected with the H5 virus. [japantoday.com; See separate article, chinadaily.com.cn, "Experts: bird flu bigger threat than SARS." : ..The main reason, they said, was that humans had learned how to effectively control the spread of SARS, but had not done the same for bird flu, which can be spread by wild birds. Bird flu has killed 62 people in Asia since 2003 and forced the slaughter of millions of fowl. The World Health Organisation has warned that bird flu has the potential to trigger a global pandemic if the virus mutates and becomes easily transmittable between humans.]

---

08.26.05 Saddam supporters protest new Iraq constitution

BAQUBA, Iraq (AFP) August 26 – Hundreds of supporters of ousted president Saddam Hussein demonstrated on Friday against Iraq¹s draft constitution, which brands his outlawed Baath party as a terrorist group. Protests were held in the restive town of Baquba, just north of the capital, as well as the ethnically divided northern oil centre of Kirkuk.

Some 500 demonstrators from the disenchanted Sunni Arab former elite, which dominated Saddam¹s regime and all previous Iraqi governments, took to the street in Baquba, carrying posters of the former dictator, along with banners saluting him and his Baath party. ³The Baath remains steadfast...Your constitution has no support,² said one banner. ³We sacrifice our souls and blood for you, Saddam,² said another, taking up a refrain common under the personality cult of the old regime. [More>>khaleejtimes.com; See also lattimes.com, "Hussein supporters rally against Constitution."

---

08.26.05 Al-Qaeda 'preparing to attack' Asian city

PARIS, August 26 – Al-Qaeda is preparing an attack on a big financial centre in Asia, such as Tokyo, Sydney or Singapore, to undermine investor confidence in the region, France's top terrorist investigator warned yesterday. Jean-Louis Bruguière told the Financial Times yesterday that several Asian countries were less prepared than the US or Europe for such an attack. ³We are somewhat neglecting the capacity or desire of the al-Qaeda organisation to destabilize the south-east Asia region,² said the respected judge, who has orchestrated the arrests of hundreds of terrorist suspects in the past 20 years.

³We have several elements of information that make us think that countries in this region, especially Japan, could have been targeted,² said Mr. Bruguière. He appears eager to raise public awareness of the growing threat to Asia, which is understood to have emerged from recent intelligence findings.

He argues that some Asian countries have less experience of Islamic terrorists than the US or Europe, making them more complacent about the risk of attack. An attack on an Asian financial centre, such as Tokyo or Sydney, would be symbolically important for al-Qaeda, he said, and designed to throw the region's recent economic boom into doubt. [More>>Financial Times via japantoday.com]

---

08.25.05 The photos Washington doesn't want you to see

08.25.05 Chávez taunts US with oil offer

August 25 – President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela hit back vigorously at calls by an ally of President George Bush for his assassination by offering cheap petrol to the poor of the US at a time of soaring fuel prices.

In a typically robust response to remarks by the US televangelist Pat Robertson, Mr Chávez compared his detractors to the "rather mad dogs with rabies" from Cervantes' Don Quixote, and unveiled his plans to use Venezuela's energy reserves as a political tool. "We want to sell gasoline and heating fuel directly to poor communities in the United States," he said. [More>>guardian.co.uk]

---

08.25.05 Iraq watching US anti-war feeling closely – Zebari

ROME (Reuters) August 26 – Iraqi leaders are closely watching the growth of the anti-war movement in the United States and understand that Americans will become frustrated without more progress, Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Thursday. Zebari, on a two-day trip to Italy, also said the next few months would "make or break" Iraq but that allies should stick together and not send what he called mixed or confused signals. He said he sympathized with anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan and others who have lost loved ones in Iraq but that it would be "disastrous" if the protests led to any cracks in the coalition or premature withdrawal.

"I fully understand the feelings of this lady and how she feels about the loss of her son and we sympathize with her and our prayers go to her and to all those who have fallen," Zebari said of Sheehan, who has been camping out at President George W. Bush's Texas ranch. "But these times, these remaining months, are really the make or break of Iraq. These months are critical to the success or failure of this project of democratization, of regime change, whether for the United States, its allies or for us," he said. [More>>thestar.com.my]

---

08.25.05 Israel seizes Palestinian land for barrier

August 25 – PA officials condemn move and urge international community to intervene. Israel has issued orders to seize Palestinian-owned land to build a section of its separation barrier around the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank, the Justice Ministry said. Palestinians condemned the construction of the barrier around Maaleh Adumim and accused Israel of quietly issuing the land-confiscation order while the world's attention was focused on the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Israel says the barrier is needed to keep suicide bombers from entering the country. The Palestinians accuse Israel of imposing a border that will swallow up chunks of territory they claim for a future independent state. When complete, the 680-kilometer wall is expected to include about 8 percent of the West Bank. [More>>dailystar.com.lb; See also haaretzdaily.com]

Editorial note: A map of the barrier is in the Maravot News sidebar. Click on the photo of the barrier for background information. The barrier is planned to extend through the sea, around the Gaza Strip.

---

08.25.05 Thai violence claims more lives

August 25 – Three Thai Muslims, including a former local religious teacher, have been shot dead in the latest violence in Thailand's south, police said. Wahama Ratoo, 44, the religious teacher turned farmer, was shot by a sniper around 4.15 pm (local time) on Thursday while tending to his herd in a jungle near his house in Sakhon district of Narathiwat province, police said. Police said they were investigating suspects and a motive for the attack, but believed Wahama died instantly after being shot several times. Teacher Salaema Dauwa, 61, from Narathiwat province was shot dead in his car on Wednesday evening along with his driver, 24-year-old Adisorn Dala, police said. [More>>aljazeera.net]

---